■^.-0^ 






.0^ . 




^.<^' 

./%, 



% 



'i-. 












, o 


^<b 


vT 








y 


''^^ 


















-^o 


V^ 








>P 


'^<^. 





.p ^ 









^ O 



% 






.* ■ '\ 



.<;'?^' 



x°-^^. 












^°--.. 



o 



ff » "I ' 



^j, c^ ^'^^z 



^; 



V 






' . . s ^ 




\\ V* 0^ 



^VJ 



^i 








■<^'. '°'-'*' A^' 



Copy— —1964 I 



THE SEED 



THE SHEAVES 



INTRODUCTION 



The Zulu Mission is in Natal, a British colony, on 
the southeast coast of Africa, about a thousand miles 
northeast of the Cape of Good Hope, latitude 30" 
south. 

The first missionaries from the American Board 
went out in December, 1834, arriving in 1835, but 
owing to wars in the country between the natives 
and the boers, or Dutch settlers, the missions were 
broken up, and the missionaries subjected to great 
trials and hardships. 

The present stations have been established since 
1844, and number eleven, beside " out- stations " oc- 
cupied by native preachers. These are scattered 
along the coast, most of them being about twenty 
miles from each other, and five to fifteen miles from 
the ocean. 

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd went out in 1862, arriving in 
Natal in December, and spent a few months at 
Amanzimtote. 

The next summer they removed to Umvoti,. one 
of the more northern stations, occupied by Mr. Grout, 
one of the oldest missionaries in Natal. 

Mr. Lloyd died at Umvoti in February, 1865. 

As soon as she could speak the language, Mrs. 
Lloyd took a class in the Sabbath-school, and gave 
all the time she could spare to visiting among the 

(iii) 



iv INTRODUCTION. 

people and teaching them. Early in 1865 she com- 
menced an evening-school for a class of young men, 
wagon-drivers and others, who were at work during 
the day, and had very little time to learn. As they 
became interested, she also taught them in Bible- 
classes on Sunday. The numbers increased, and in 
a short time the more advanced, who had leanied to 
read before she began to teach them, were able also 
to take Bible-classes of the more ignorant. 

The following letters and sketches by Mrs. Lloyd 
have been circulated, to some extent, among her 
friends, and are now printed for private distribu- 
tion, to save the great labor of transcribing. Mrs, 
Lloyd has expressly prohibited the publication of her let- 
ters^ except in cases where she has sent them to newspapers^ 
and it is hoped that all into ivhose hands these 2>ages may 
fall will religiously respect her prohibition. 

They are necessarily fragmentary, written in a 
hurried manner, in the midst of most pressing work, 
while the habitual use of the Zulu laneruasce leads to 
a frequent disregard of English idioms. They give 
a passing view of various impressions during five 
years of missionary life. 

Several heathen schools have been established in 
the vicinity of Umvoti, taught by former pupils of 
Mrs. Lloyd. 

The latest estimate of numbers in preparation for 
Christmas, 1867, was — 

Heathen schools, 200; Station children, 150; 
Young men, 120; Young women, 30 — Total, 500. 



mTRODUCTION. V 

The great number of young men in proportion to 
the women is owing to the fact that many have come 
to the station to receive instruction, and can be, in a 
degree, educated while supporting themselves by 
their labor. 

The natives have gardens, and also raise corn and 
sugar-cane. There is a sugar-mill at Umvoti, so 
that the cane is manufactured on the spot. 

It is a proof of the zeal of these young men, that, 
after working from six a.m. till six p.m. every day, 
they go to school in the evening from seven till half- 
past nine o'clock. 

On Sundays they have most interesting Bible- 
classes. Twelve of those who have been under in- 
struction for the last three years are teaching or 
preaching, either in the vicinity of Umvoti, or at 
more distant points. 

The aim is to raise up an efficient corps of native 
teachers and preachers ; but more missionaries are 
needed, educated men and women, to guide and 
direct the whole movement. As yet there is no Zulu 
literature, and the whole Bible is not translated. 
But the work goes on. How it shall go on depends 
upon the response to the appeals for help. 



Those who wish further information are referred 
to a " Historical Sketch of the Zulu Mission," a 
small pamphlet published by the American Board 
of Foreign Missions at Boston. 



CHRISTIAN WORK 



ZULUS AS HEATHE]?^ MD AS CHRISTIAll^S. 

If you -were to come into our Sunday-school any 
Sunday afternoon, you would see among the infant 
scholars two little girls about six years of age, who 
would attract your attention by their bright faces 
and beautiful eyes. They are the children of one of 
the best and richest men at the station, and his his- 
tory is most wonderful and interesting. 

During the reign of Dingaan, the great and cruel 
chief of the Zulus, the natives were slaughtered, far 
and wide, at his will. So cruel was he, that every 
year having sent through the whole country and 
collected all the young girls, he selected a certain 
number of the prettiest for his wives. Having 
brought them to his kraals, he gave orders to his 
chief men, and they sent out and killed all those he 
had chosen the year before. So yeijir by year great 
numbers of young Zulu girls perished. 

The father of Kalo, and grandfather of these two 
little girls in our infant-school, was one of Dingaan's 
head men. But one day suddenly he was charged 
with witchcraft and dragged away to be killed. His 
wife, fearing or rather knowing her fate would also 
be death, fled in the night from her kraal, with her . 

(7) 



8 CHRISTIAN WORK 

baby-girl on her back and her little boy Kalo by 
her side. She traveled far, across plains and rivers, 
but haA^ing gone during two days without food, w^as 
ready to lie down and die. Then she remembered 
having heard there was a missionary, six miles off, 
Avho was a " man of mercy." Leaving her little boy 
in the bush, as he was too weak to travel further, 
she crept slowly on and finally reached the station. 
Going to Mr. G., she said, " I am starved and dying, 
but I give myself and my children to you to do as 
you please with us. They say you are merciful." 
Having taken food, she hastened back to the bush 
and found her boy. The three were then taken 
under the care of the missionary and are now all 
Christians. 

The old mother totters to church on Sunday, 
bringing with her the baby of her daughter, who is 
married to a young man, and they live in a pretty 
little house up on the hill. Kalo lives across the 
river, and when I went over there the other day, I 
was struck with the exceeding neatness of every- 
thing and the air of prosperity on every side. He is 
zealous in his work for others, and gives abundantly 
of the money which he says God has given him. 
And so to each of these clothed and Christianized 
natives the missionary has proved '' a man of mercy," 
and the Gospel of Jesus Christ a message of salva- 
tion, temporal as well as eternal. 

SUPERSTITIONS. 

Quite an important part of the Zulu community 
is the body of witch-doctors and rain-doctors, who 



m ZULU LAND. 9 

are generally men, though occasionally a woman is 
considered " divinely called." They are very shrewd 
and sharp, and wonderful are the stories told of 
them, and of the ways in which they secure the faith 
of this people. They discover those who are be- 
witched, and the king causes them to be put to 
death. They detect those who steal and those who 
kill ; they also bring rain and cure diseases by their 
medicines, their fires and incantations. At least all 
these things they claim to do, and the means by 
which one of them here recently detected a thief 
shows no little shrewdness and ingenuity. The 
'' doctor" collected all the tribe, and having emptied 
a hut told the people it was a bewitched place, and 
the chicken which he placed in it would be the spirit 
of their fathers. Having taken a fowl he rubbed it 
air over with grease and then smeared it with red 
clay. One by one the men were ordered to go into 
the hut and place their hands upon the fowl, when 
it would speak and accuse the man who stole of 
being the thief. Each went in, and being conscious 
of his innocence did not fear to handle the chicken 
with confidence. The real thief, however, fearing 
to touch it, so superstitious was he, did not put his 
hands on the fowl. When all had been into the 
hut, the doctor pretended all were innocent, and 
then suddenly called upon them to raise their hands 
and cry to the spirits. Of course all their hands, 
save those of the thief, had some remains of the red 
clay from off the fowl ; and when the doctor spied 
his clean hands he rushed upon him, and the poor, 
frightened fellow confessed his guilt ; while all the 
1^ 



10 CHBISTIAN WOPiK 

people more than ever believed in the inspiration 
of the wondrous doctor. 

Though some few of them have become Christians, 
these doctors, as a class, are hard and wicked, and 
do more harm than can be imagined. One of them 
not long since destroyed a great tribe of people. 
The chief had a plan of attacking some kraals near 
by, and his people not entering into it, he applied to 
the doctor for the means to make them all unite 
zealously in the w^ork of plunder and destruction. 
The doctor told them, without revealing his object, 
that the spirits ordered them to slay all their cattle 
and plant no grain that year. He told them also 
that the spirits said they would raise alL their cattle 
to life again. The people doubted him somewhat, 
so in order to assure their faith, he determined to 
practise a deception upon them. His object in hav- 
ing them destroy their cattle and their fields was to 
make them hungry and desperate, and then they 
would be ready to join the king in his attack and 
work of devastation on the enemy. 

On a certain day be called them all to assemble 
at a large pond of water and reeds. Taking the 
heads and horns of many cattle, he placed them on 
men's shoulders among the reeds. He then found a 
girl who w^as a ventriloquist, and having hidden 
her, he muttered and burned incense, and then called 
out for the spirits to speak. The girl called out, " I 
am the mighty spirits of the dead, I rest not, and at 
my bidding the cattle that are dead shall rise again." 
Many more things she said while the doctor mut- 
tered and moaned and performed rites too numerous 



m ZULU LAND. 11 

to mention, and at last the voice of the spirits cried, 
" Come forth," and out rose from the water and the 
reeds the heads and horns of the cattle, and moved 
in various directions. 

The superstitious people were at once convinced ; 
they slew their oxen and cows by thousands, and 
when the time was past, they were without food. 
The witch-doctor was among the first to perish, for 
the people, instead of being desperate, were too 
weak to move, and so they died miserably. A few 
staggered off, hoping to reach a neighboring tribe 
and obtain food, so the road was strewn with the 
bodies of the dead as they fell by the way. A few, 
the chief among them, reached a place and were 
fed and cared for, but the whole tribe of the Am- 
axosa perished from the face of the earth. 

Some of the natives around, to whom the Gospel 
had been preached, cry out that God sent this as a 
judgment upon the tribe, because they had driven 
out and even killed missionaries who had been sent 
to them, and had clung to their wickedness and 
heathenism with determination, until they perished 
and fell by the way. Truly God " broke them in 
pieces like a potter's vessel." 

ZULUS AS CHRISTIANS, 

CONTRASTS. 

Formerly the Zulus wore no clothing ; now they 
dress well, comfortably, even handsomely when 
they can afford it. Formerly they lived in kraals^ 



12 CHRISTIAN WORK 

or huts of wicker-work, like a large bee-hive, the 
door so small they were obliged to creep in on their 
hands and knees ; now they have villages and settle- 
ments, comfortable houses, some woven and plas- 
tered with clay, others of brick, with thatched roofs, 
some of them containing several rooms, nicely fin- 
ished and furnished. They have also built churches, 
and one recently completed at tJmvoti is of brick, 
with arched windows and an iron roof, for which the 
natives have paid 81,750, and promised a sum which 
will make their whole contribution for building it 
$2,922. Formerly the men spent their time in hunt- 
ing or fighting, engaging frequently in the most 
bloody and destructive wars, while their women 
were crushed to the earth with the burden of toil ; 
now the men work, raising sugar-cane, corn, etc., 
while they ask, " Are there no missionaries in Amer- 
ica to tell them not to fight and kill each other ? 
Since we became Christians, we have thought it 
wrong to fight and to make war." 

Churches are formed at the different stations, 
numbering from ten to one hundred members. They 
are examined for admission in the usual manner, and 
then at the last church meeting before the commun- 
ion Sabbath, the names are read, and those present 
are asked if they know anything against them. 
There is no hesitation, but if any one knows a fault, 
be it ever so slight, it is brought out ; so that those 
who are admitted to the church have need to be 
blameless, if not perfect. 

Statements as to one station will serve, with some 
modification, for all. 



IN ZULU LAND, 13 

SUNDAYS. 

It is a most interesting sight to see the people 
coming to church on Sunday morning, the women 
and children so clean, and generally dressed in bright 
colors ; the men in clean clothes, the best they can 
procure. Beside the " station people," the heathen 
come in their native undress, rings on their heads 
and spears in hand. The people sing sweetly 
many of our tunes to native words. They have a 
prayer-meeting at sunrise, conducted entirely by 
themselves, and a large Sunday-school. Some half- 
dozen of the men go out to the kraals to preach 
every Sunday. 



MONTHLY CONCERT. 

Last week was monthly concert for missions. They 
sang " Greenland's Icy Mountains " in Zulu, prayed, 
and at the end each one brought something as a 
monthly offering. It was most touching to see many 
women and children, and even babies, put their mites 
down upon the pulpit. Sometimes a poor widow 
would ask change, as she could not afford to give all 
she brought, and out here it was impossible to get 
change. Altogether they gave, last Sunday, six 
dollars, and this is their average contribution. Be- 
side this they contribute funds to support one oi 
two native teachers, and pay a school-teacher twenty- 
five dollars a month. 



14 CHBISTIAN WORK 

WEEK OF PRAYEE. 

Last week was the week of prayer, and beside the 
sunrise prayer-meeting which they always have, 
there was a daily prayer-meeting at 4 p.m., which 
was full, two or three getting up to speak or to pray 
at a time. I could not help thinking they put to 
shame some Christians at home. Many of the na- 
tives are splendid orators, their gestures are so strik- 
ing, and their speeches are excellent. 

YEARLY MEETING 1863. 

The yearly meeting is just over. The Christian 
natives own wagons and oxen, and many make their 
money by carrying loads ; so they have the means 
of coming quite in state. The evening before the 
meeting there was great cracking of whips and loud 
hallooing in every direction. They had meetings 
with the missionaries and alone, crowds of them, 
and such splendid-looking men. The chapel was 
crowded with the good people, and they had up for 
discussion various questions as to the laws by which 
they are governed, the selling women for cattle, and 
so on. They gave £72 for two home missionaries, 
and chose the place to send them. 

Then we went to the village and saw the people 
with their visitors, rooms with white curtains trim- 
med with red, matting on the floors, sometimes 
sofas and rocking-chairs. At breakfast, coffee and 
bread and meat. 

Sunday was the great day; the crowd greater 



, m ZULU LAND. 15 

than ever. They sang most sweetly, " Child of Sin 
and Sorrow," " Greenland," and the " Year of 
Jubilee," and had communion in the afternoon, two 
hundred and fifty together. Some of them walked a 
hundred miles to the meeting, enjoyed it vastly, and 
returned home, and then we all subsided. 

1864. 

The village rang this morning with the noise of 
the wagons, whips and voices, as the families went 
away to the yearly meeting, men, women and chil- 
dren. Some took their neighbors, who were too 
poor to hire oxen and wagons, or whose wagons 
were needed to carry sugar-cane to the mill. In the 
afternoon, those men who go alone set out on horse- 
back, all in high glee, and some went on foot. Those 
who are detained at home by business or illness in 
their families, meet daily, morning and evening for 
prayer, to unite in spirit, at least, with those who 
have gone. 

THE meeti:n^g. 

The mission-house is in the centre, with the native 
houses on small hills around, some of them nearly 
two miles off. They are upright houses, some of 
brick, some of wattled sticks plastered Avith mud or 
clay. They have just finished a chapel of the same 
material, holding two hundred people, which is in- 
tended for a school-house, as the coming year they 
intend to build a good chapel of brick, to be boarded 
and seated. Timber is scarce and dear. 



IG CHRISTIAN WORK 

There were six missionaries present. It was a 
pretty sight to see the '^amakolwa" (believers) 
arrive. From one direction were seen nine wagons 
filled with people, and a dozen horsemen. At the 
same time, on the opposite side, appeared four wag- 
ons and some forty horsemen. The whooping cough 
prevailed badly, and many women and children 
w^ere kept at home. This accounts for the many 
horsemen. 

The exercises commenced on Wednesday evening 
wdth a prayer meeting, and one was also held each 
morning at sunrise. Thursday morning one of the 
missionaries preached to a large congregation ; in 
the afternoon and evening there were prayer-meet- 
ings. Friday morning, the most able man among 
them, Nimbula, j^reached to them, and in the after- 
noon was held the examination of the two native 
Christians who had been sent out to preach the past 
year. Their names were Umbiyana and Benjamin. 
They were closely questioned, and gave good evi- 
dence that they had profited by their teaching in 
doctrine, etc., and also that they had been taught 
by the Spirit. They then received a license to 
preach, signed by all the missionaries. It was 
a most interesting service. "What hath God 
wrought ?" 

In the evening they met by themselves to talk 
over raising the money to support these two men 
the coming year, seventy-two pounds being needed 
for both. Saturday morning we all met, and they 
were to hand in their money; one after another 
came forward, till, at the close of the meeting, sixty- 



m ZULU LAND. 17 

eight pounds ten shillings had been put upon the 
table in gold and silver. In addition to this, twenty- 
one pounds were subscribed by those who had no 
money wath them, making in all eighty-nine pounds 
ten shillings (where £72 were needed). 

Saturday afternoon one of the ladies held a meet- 
ing with the women, and in the evening all the un- 
converted were gathered together in one house, and 
the love of Christ was set before them, while, at the 
same time, all the " believers " were gathered in the 
chapel praying for them. Sabbath morning a ser- 
mon on the love of Christ w^as preached in Zulu, 
and in the afternoon about two hundred sat down 
at the Lord's Table. On Monday we separated. 



LIFE AMOJiTG THE ZULUS. 

RANDOM EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 

"I have just come in from the dining-room, where 
was an old woman who was kissing the baby's hand. 
She was in the Zulu country when old king Chaka's 
mother died, and a number of people had to be killed 
to satisfy the Amahlosi (spirits). She and her hus- 
band and children were among the victims. She ran 
away with her children just after her husband was 
taken, but all three of them died of starvation. She 
says she died too, but was brought to life again to 
hear the Gospel. At any rate she survived the star- 
vation, and was found and aided, and brought here. 
She has a little hut near the Mission Station, and 
here she has lived for many years. She is very old, 



18 CHRISTIAN WORK 

no one knows how old, and is a most earnest Chris- 
tian. 

" She is very original and quaint in her ideas. The 
other day we were asking her if the women who came 
fi'om church told her about the sermon. ' Oh, no,' 
she said, ' Satan threw his mantle over them, that 
they might not listen to God's word.' " 

Did you ever before think of sleep in church as 
Satan's mantle thrown over the eyes ? 

" Some of the people have become very intelligent, 
and are employed as interpreters and translators. 
One girl whom I have seen has just translated the 
' Dairyman's Daughter ;' and ' Pilgrim's Progress ' is 
now partly finished. The natives are delighted with 
the last, as they are fond of allegory, and use it much 
in their own speeches and conversation." 

The rain-doctors are all powerful, very bad men, 
and their influence is one great drawback to success 
in teaching here. They array themselves peculiarly 
and wear their hair in hundreds of little ringlets, so 
they are easily distinguished. They pretend to bring 
rain, to cure sickness, to find stolen property. Their 
failure to bring rain destroyed all their power at one 
of the stations, and was a death-blow to their influ- 
ence. After all their eflbrts had failed, the chief said 
he had lost all faith in them, and he sent to the Mis- 
sionary to ask him to pray for rain, and that very 
day the rain came. So one of the doctors finding his 
occupation gone, goes regularly now to the Mission 
church, and seems to have given up his pretensions. 

The people often come to the missionaries to pray 
for rain, and because they wear black or dark clothes 



m ZULU LAND, 19 

in cool, cloudy weather, and black coats on Sunday, 
the poor, ignorant people fancy there is some connec- 
tion between their prayers on Sunday and the wished- 
for rain. 

" Some of the men are very intelligent. I found 
one studying Barnes's Notes on the Revelations, for 
his Sunday-school class, and they read our papers, 
the Observer and Lidependent^ and others, when they 
can get them." 

Not long since a boy came to Mr. , the mis- 
sionary, and said he wanted to live with him, and 

work for him. Mr. did not want him, but as 

the boy was so importunate, he asked him why he 
was so anxious to come. " Well," said the boy, 
"my mother lived on the hills over there, in the 
kraal, and she used to come to your church on Sun- 
days. When she was sick in her kraal, she called 
to me and said, ' Go, when I am dead, and live with 
the missionary ; tell him to teach you to be a Chris- 
tian. I know very little, but I have heard him tell 
of Jesus, and I am going to heaven, because I love 
Jesus Christ. Tell the missionary he sent me there 
by his teachings.' So," said the boy, " I have come 
to live with you and to be taught, as my mother 
wished me to do." 

There is much just now to encourage us, at several 
of the stations more seriousness and earnest prayer. 
At one place a chief and his tribe are begging to be 
taught and are praying : and here a chief has sent 
for teachers, and some of the Christian men are going 
in answer to the call. Though we have no revival, 
there are about twenty who are anxious to unite 



20 CHRISTIAIS' WORK 

with the church, and this waking up at all the sta- 
tions makes us both happy and anxious. 

There have been some peculiar Providences. One 
man who was holding out against his conscience lost 
his child very suddenly, and another who was really an 
enemy and open opposer was struck dead, though the 
witch-doctor had told the lightning not to touch him. 

Chiefest of all, Kalo is dead. I wrote you of a 
woman who came here with her children for refuge, 
when she escaped from her husband's murderers. 
Kalo was that little boy whom she brought on her 
back. He had become a very prosperous man, with 
a good house, horses, cattle and twenty acres of sugar 
cane. He was a prominent man, much beloved by 
the people, and leaves a wife and three children. 

Kalo was ill about a week, and suffered greatly, 
but at the last he roused himself and said, " I so 
greatly rejoice to go to Jesus in heaven. I feel I am 
in the right way. Love Him, all of you. Wife, 
cling to your faith ; teach the children. Keep them 
as Christians should be. Let us all meet in heaven :" 
and as one of them prayed, he died. 

They dug his grave in the grave-yard, a pretty 
hill-side, and about noon they came over the river. 
One of the Amakolwa (chief men among the Chris- 
tians) led the oxen and another drove ; an act mark- 
ing great respect, as such work is always left to boys. 
The fourteen oxen were all black, and in the wagon 
were his wife, sister, children and mother, the poor 
old woman who found a refuge here so many years 
ago. The "amakolwa" and station people, a hun- 
dred or more, followed, all the men with black upon 



IN ZULU LAND. 21 

their hats. They went up to the grave and a more 
impressive scene I never witnessed. In the absence 
of the Missionary the services were conducted by 
Untaba, the first convert at that station, and all said 
as they looked at the cofiin, '' We cannot feel sad ; 
we were so glad of his words, that he was glad to go 
to heaven." All these things are having a great 
influence. 

According to Zulu law, which the English have 
not changed, a man's property, including his wife 
and children, must all go to his relatives, the mother 
has no power over her own children. So Kalo's 
family and property would go to heathen relatives 
away off in the kraals, but I believe in some way this 
is to be prevented. Such a law often falls with cruel 
weight upon Christian converts. 

One of our little scholars, eight years old, died a 
few days ago, but I think she was ready to die. Often 
you will see these little children praying in the bush 
as you pass along. How different this from the 
heathen. 

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS. 

LETTER TO THE ADVOCATE AND GUARDIAN. 

Natal, South Af:§ica, March, 1864. 
My Dear Mrs. Bexxett, — I have been this after- 
noon reading the Advocate^ which is sent to me regu- 
larly here, and I could not help thinking, in the midst 
of your records in the city, you might be interested 
also, to hear of Industrial Schools and visiting among 
the neo-lected in this far-off land. 



22 CHRISTIAN WORK 

At our Station here you would have seen, on Christ- 
mas day, as interesting a sight as any room in New 
York could have shown. 

First, I must tell you that when the heathen peo- 
ple leave their '' kraals," or huts, and their wild life, 
they build nice houses and wear good clothes, as 
their circumstances will allow. Some, by degrees, 
become quite civilized and rich, others just live by 
daily toil and care. 

On Christmas day we determined to give to all the 
children of the Christian natives who live at the sta- 
tion, a tree and a festival. To be sure there were 
many difficulties to contend with — one hundred and 
thirty children — no nice shop to go to, where we 
could buy toys, candies and cakes by the quantity. 
The children and parents were greatly excited, know- 
ing that something was in progress, but unable even 
to guess what it might be. Then there was no suit- 
able tree to be found here, till after long search a 
bush was found that would answer the purpose, with 
some trimming and tying of branches. Then came 
the getting ready of little pin-cushions, and white 
pieces of cloth worked to represent handkerchiefs ; 
a few toys were given, and some caps made for boys. 
Thus the one hundred and thirty articles were col- 
lected, and each marked for the boy or girl who was 
to have it. Then we prepared some paj^ers with a 
little candy in them, faint imitations of the mottoes 
in Broadway windows, and lastly, each child was to 
have a ginger-snap, a small tray of which, with roses 
in and around them, made quite a show. 

So the tree was hung, with an American flag 



m ZULU LAND, 23 

twined in at the top, the bell rung, and the children 
and parents came to the chapel ; they were all clean 
and nicely dressed ; the young people sat on the 
front seats, and the parents behind. 

When the tree appeared, you should have heard 
their exclamations. I could not translate them, nor 
give you an idea, for the Zulu has his own way of 
expressing surprise, and so expressive is this, that 
when we are astonished, it is easier to exclaim in 
Zulu than in English. 

In their school, of which I will tell you soon, they 
had learned some of our songs, a translation of " If 
you don't at first succeed, Try, try again." One also 
of "Happy Land" — and in English, " Come, tell me 
how the bread is made," and " We are all noddin', 
nid, nid, noddin'," songs which I have often heard 
from the children at the Home. 

We had three or four of those toy snakes which so 
delight boys at home, and we had expected the same 
of the large boys here, whose names we had placed 
upon them. But these children hate and fear snakes 
above all things; they know how poisonous they 
are, how they abound, and how many die from their 
bites. Judge of our surprise when, as they espied 
the toys coiled in the tree, they screamed, even the 
babies, so that it was diflSicult to persuade them that 
these were only imitations of their hated inyoka. 

After the singing, and a speech to them in Zulu, 
each child's name was called, each received with real 
joy the present, cake and candy, and each returned 
to his place. I am sorry to say at all the festivals in 
America, I always saw boys and girls who were dis- 



24 CHRISTIAN WORK 

contented with their gifts, but with us, on Christmas 
day, every little black face looked not only content- 
ed, but delighted. Presently a little boy held out 
his motto and said, " What are we to do with the 
books?" When they found there was something 
sweet inside, there was such a commotion and scram- 
bling ! Some of the little ones tried to eat paper and 
all, while others, having eaten the candy, tied the 
papers up and returned them to us. 

After singing again, home they went, their voices 
and penny whistles sounding over the hills, and we 
heard the latter for many weeks after. The parents 
stopped to thank us, and to say it was the nicest and 
happiest day they ever enjoyed, and that it was as 
much a treat to them as to their children. Thus there 
were some houses in Africa that had their " Merry 
Christmas." I am glad Christmas was such a happy 
day to all the schools in New York. 

Now for some history of our schools here. The 
children vary in number at the different Stations ; in 
one of the schools there is a mixture of Kaffirs, Zulus, 
Hottentots and Bushmen, with an occasional child 
in whose veins runs some Dutch or English blood. 
The school-hours are much the same as with you, the 
children going home at noon to eat their corn-por- 
ridge or mush. Of course, food is very abundant for 
them here. As to clothing, the children in the kraals, 
or native villages, go quite naked until they are about 
ten years old, when they wear a simple band of skin 
or beads about the waist. When they come into the 
Stations the parents clothe them as well as their 
means will allow, and in general, we manage to have 



m ZULU LAND. 25 

tliem quite neatly dressed, by giving them a dress 
or shirt, in exchange for chickens, corn, potatoes, 
pumpkins, etc., of which they raise an abundance. 

At nine the children come in as the bell calls them, 
each makes a bow and says, " Saka bona," and takes 
his seat. They then sing, for they know many songs 
in both Zulu and English, then they repeat the Lord's 
Prayer and their lessons begin. 

I wish the good people in America, who think Afri- 
cans below w^hite people in talent and quickness, 
would just take a Zulu school. Of course there are 
stupid ones, but in the experience I have had, as a 
whole, they are much quicker in learning than most 
white children. Those who have been regularly in 
school, can all read Zulu, down to children five years 
old ; and most of those over ten can read English 
also. All can write, better or w^orse, some of them 
very well. They can repeat the whole multiplication 
table, and do a sum in fractions or reduction as fast 
as their pencils can fly. They are taught marching, 
clapping hands, etc., and the discipline, as far as 
possible, is the same as in our public schools at 
home ; they also study geography and Bible lessons. 
There are many of them who will repeat a hymn or 
psalm without a mistake, after hearing it once read, 
and they will even learn in that way a song in Eng- 
lish, although they do not understand the words. 
The other day I saw a girl about ten years old, take 
the book and learn the first seven Psalms in less 
than half an hour, repeating the whole without any 
prompting, as fast as she could speak. You can see 
then, that the difficulty in our Industrial Schools 
2 



26 CHBISTIAN WORK 

does not consist in the children being '^ poor stupid 
things," as many suppose. 

They lead naturally such a wild life, that anything 
like system is very hard to submit to. They do not 
sing in their wild homes, and their first attempts at 
singing make you ready to stop your ears and flee ; 
but when they do learn, they sing well, and at all 
hours of the day and night you hear their voices 
ringing out, here and there, until even the babies 
call out as you pass their houses, and by some imagi- 
nation you can fancy they are trying to sing the 
songs their older brothers and sisters have brought 
from school. 

When I taught them the first songs with motions 
of the hands, songs which quiet many a restless little 
class at home, they wei:e astonished beyond measure, 
looked, rolled their eyes, and finally a little boy 
turned to his next neighbor and exclaimed, " I won- 
der if the teacher thinks that we are deers, that we 
should do this !" 

So you can look in and see us in imagination at 
the daily school, Saturday singing-school, and Sun- 
day-school, and feel glad that these teachingsTiave 
gotten a foot-hold in Africa. As a rule, the girls 
come to the school clean^ and the work is not assisted (!) 
by finding the hands well covered with taffy or mo- 
lasses candy, as I used to find in Xew York. I am 
glad there are no candy stalls to take the Sunday 
pennies, and produce the sick feelings and sticky 
hands, with the temptation to deny the candy when 
the unmistakable odor proclaims it. We all know 
how that is. 



IN ZULU LAND. 27 

TWO AFTERXOON WALKS IN ZULU LAND. 

PROM THE MISSIONARY HERALD. 

HEATHEN KRAALS. 

I should like to tell you of two afternoon walks, 
to show you a few of the effects of Christianity in 
this land. Imagine a heathen kraal, composed of a 
circular inclosure for the cattle, with twenty low 
huts around it, having holes through which to crawl 
into them on hands and knees. Here we made our 
first afternoon's visit. This kraal is about half a 
mile from the chapel and our house. As we came 
near, w^e w^ere greeted by numerous Zulu curs, the 
meanest of all mean animals. A small boy peered 
out, and seeing the missionaries, out of respect to 
us, he immediately began knocking the dogs with 
sticks, thereby much increasing the noise, of course. 
We made our way into the kraal. The father, an 
old gray-headed man, with a shaven head, and the 
usual black ring on the top of it, was squatted 
against the hut, doing nothing. His old wives were 
around a fire inside, on which was a pot, filling the 
hut wdth an odor anything but pleasant. The con- 
tents of this pot one of the wives was stirring with 
a stick. When the food is sufliciently cooked, each 
will seize a stick, thrust it into the pot, and then 
lick off w^hat has adhered to it, until the pot is 
empty. To the left, the men, from twenty to forty 
years of age, w^ere sitting and standing. Some were 
drinking beer, some smoking, and some whittling 
pieces of wood. 



28 CHRISTIAN WOBK 

As we entered the kraal, some twenty children of 
various ages, small ones on the backs of the larger 
ones, and all in want of clothing (in fact they have 
nothing on), came forward staring and wondering. 
Then up the hill came the women of the kraal, with 
babies tied on their backs by goat-skins, and hoes 
over their shoulders, talking as if they were trying 
to see which could speak the loudest. Indeed, all 
the inhabitants of the kraal were talking in their 
usual loud pitch of voice, of which you can form no 
idea. As soon as we could make ourselves heard, 
we began talking to the men, inquiring about the 
health of the people, their crops and cattle. Some 
were too tipsy to reply, but some spoke very well, 
and showed the respect which is universally felt for 
the wives of missionaries, as well as for the mission- 
aries themselves. 

As I walked away, I said to the old man, " Do 
any of the children read ?" " Oh, no !" was his 
answer, "books are bewitched, and we Avant our 
children to let them alone." '' But don't you see 
how happy and comfortable the people and children 
are who have books and read ?" " Yes, they are 
well off, truly, but we want our children to let them 
alone." 

Just then came the cry, " A snake !" and a poison- 
ous serpent glided into the kraal. We jumped aside 
and cried, " Kill it !" " Oh, no !" said the old man, 
" It is the spirit of my father, we can't kill it. The 
spirit is angry, we must kill an ox for it." ''And 
pray what do you do with the ox ?" " Oh, we put I 
a part of it in a hut, and the spirit goes at night and i 



IN ZULU LAND. 29 

eats all it wants and we eat the rest ;" which " rest " 
is the whole animal, of course. We noticed among 
the women a young, bright-looking girl, whose 
freshly reddened top-hnot^ and bright brass buttons 
on the goat-skin hanging down in front, which 
forms the distinguishing part of a bride's dress, 
showed her to be a bride. 

The chief man, or father, invited us to enter a hut 
and eat some sour curds, but as we looked in and 
saw calves there, we told him we preferred to remain 
outside. The hut was filled with smoke, as there 
was no chimney, and the outer air was far more pleas- 
ant. These kraals and huts are full of cockroaches, to 
say nothing of many other disagreeable insects. The 
sour-milk pot, when the people have eaten, is hung 
on a peg in the hut, and in a few minutes myriads 
of roaches are in it. If you should say to the 
man, " Do look ! See these creatures !" his reply 
would be, " The poor little things are hungry, let 
them eat." When he next wishes for food, he will 
take the pot, and without washing it, will shake the 
creatures off, fill it and eat. This is a very little 
thing, for the dirt and practices of these kraals may 
not be told. If they might, there would be many 
a word of astonishment from you all. Nothing is 
too dirty for the people to handle, and if their hands 
feel dirty, rubbing them together, or rubbing them 
on their bodies or heads, is all-sufiicient to cleanse 
them. And the filth of their conversation, of their 
morals and souls, is worse than that of their bodies. 

Tet, with all this, there is a shrewdness and 
smartiuess very attractive — nothing slow or stupid. 



30 CHRISTIAN WORK 

Their brown faces shine with smiles and intelligence, 
and their mouths are full of words of wit, and, I 
was about to say, of wisdom. It certainly is one 
kind of wisdom. I suppose the friends will not feel 
hurt if I say, that many a Zulu is the image of some 
American friend, save his black skin. Many times a 
month a stranger will appear, and one of us will cry 
out, " Who is it he looks so much like ?" Then, 

after a little thinking, " Oh, yes ! it is Mr. , of 

Boston, or Mrs. , of New York." A learned man 

has lately been here, making examinations of the 
heads of Zulus and of Coolies from India. In each 
case he found the Zulu skull contained the most brains, 

HOMES OF CHRISTIANIZED ZULUS. 

On the second afternoon we visited the homes of 
the Christian Zulus, which lie in all directions about 
us. The first thing we saw w^as a pretty, white 
cottage. Orange trees were planted in rows be- 
side it; and on the well-swept verandah stood the 
owner, a fine, tall man, in straw hat, blue shirt and 
black trow^sers, just returned from his fields. He 
said, '' Good afternoon," inviting us in ; but as his 
wife was aw^ay w^e did not enter. 

To the right, among the trees stood another house. 
On entering the dining-room, w^e found the mother 
in a calico dress and red turban, sewing, with her 
baby beside her. In the centre of the room w^as a 
table, and by it sat a girl sewing and a boy study- 
ing his book. Two little children were running 
about the room. One of them came to my side and 



m ZULU LAjS'D. 31 

repeated the lesson he had learned that day in 
school, seeming very proud that he had remembered 
it. The room contained chairs, book-shelves with 
books, a sort of cupboard with cups and saucers, e.tc. 
In the bed-room I saw a bedstead, the bed was 
covered with a patch-work quilt, and had pillows 
and blankets. All this, together with the well- 
dressed children, gave the house an air of comfort. 
The man and woman are both earnest and zealous 
Christians. 

A little beyond this we came to a brown cottage. 
In front of it a girl, about eight years of age, was 
teaching the baby to walk. In the parlor, on a sort 
of sofa, sat a girl, of perhaps nineteen, cutting and 
making a dress. The father was reading aloud, 
while his wife, fresh and pretty, was sitting near at 
work. The little children were playing with a rag 
doll — a very good article, made by the mother. The 
mother reported that " Jeremiah," a small boy of 
three summers, was trying hard to sing the song he 
heard me sing in school on Saturday. By the way, 
this mother is a genius in cutting and fitting, and 
making pretty things, and the young people resort 
to her to be taught this art. 

Beyond, we came to a red brick house, a flower 
garden in front, curtained windows and matted floor. 
In the parlor stood a table, with ink, pens, paper, 
books, etc., on it, and a clock ticked away merrily 
on the shelf. The table was set for tea in the back 
room, wdth cloth, plates, cups and saucers, spoons 
and forks, bread, butter and sugar, while hot coffee 
was ready, of which the cup we drank was very 



32 CHRISTIAN WORK 

acceptable. This mother is a most excellent and 
well taught house-keeper, and the whole family are 
always dressed neatly and prettily. I asked the 
fiither what he did evenings. " Oh," he said, " we 
light the candle, my wife sews, and I teach the chil- 
dren their lessons for school the next day. When 
that is done, we pray, sing a hymn, I read a chapter, 
and we go to bed." This man's family includes, be- 
sides his own children, some brothers, cousins and 
friends, young men and girls, who have broken 
away from heathenism and their kraals, clothed 
themselves, and now are civilized, and many of them 
Christians, members of the church here. The little 
two-year-oldling held up her foot as we came out, 
with the remark, so common in childhood at home, 
" See, I've got new shoes." 

Just as we passed out, two old women w^ent by, 
with a greeting to us. They left heathenism when 
already old. Though ignorant, they are sincere 
followers of Christ. Many a poor old woman, cast 
off by her heathen husband, first learns here the 
sweet story of old, and "believes;" though, per- 
haps with too little eyesight to learn to read for her- 
self. Cut her grand-children will get the book of 
God and read to her, while she listens and wonders. 

As we came toward the next house, the other side 
of the orange trees, w^e heard a scream, and suddenly 
a dozen boys, of about ten years old, dashed out 
from behind and ran towards the river. Their blue 
and white shirts and caps showed plainly that they 
were the children of civilized parents. The head 
one struck up, " Pleasant is the Sabbath bell ;" to 



IN ZULU LAND. 83 

which the others added, "In the light of God;" 
showing that they were the children also of Christian 
parents. 

Had we been a little earlier, we should have met 
these and many other boys and girls, with bags of 
books on their shoulders, going home from school to 
the white houses, dotted here and there, all over 
the hills. These boys were going for their afternoon 
bath — for they have to give an account in school 
daily as to their washing. A dirty pair of hands is 
a disgrace not to be thought of. 

These mothers and fathers were once such as we 
saw in the afternoon visit to the kraal. Various 
influences, through God's ordering, brought them 
to the missionary families, where they were trained 
and taught. Their children and children's children 
will tell of the wonders of God's dealings. We 
should like to take with us, for one of these after- 
noon walks, some of those who say, " What is the 
use of missions ?" " What can be done for such 
creatures as these black people ?" If they were not 
convinced and their questions answered by what 
they would see, we should have to conclude they 
w^ere more deficient in mind than the black people 
whom they profess to despise. 



2* 



34 CHRISTIAN WORK 

THE TWO DEATH -BEDS. 



FROM THE CONGREGATIONALI3T. 



Come with me near to that kraal. Within the hut 
to the left, on the ground lies a woman. The face is 
turned to the floor, and with a blanket about her she 
lies in silence. About her are a crowd of nearly na- 
ked women talking and laughing, and making noises 
w^hicli would seem sufiicient to kill a well person. 
If you approach the sick woman and speak to her, 
she makes no reply. She knows she is going to die, 
but all is dark, and the heathen custom is to turn the 
face away and not speak a word, and so in silence 
and horror to close the eyes in death. 

Comforts there are none, food there is none. All 
you see is the dark hut, the noisy w^omen, and the 
speechless form of the dying woman. After your 
vain attempts to speak with her, you sit down. She 
dies. Then your ears are assailed with wails and 
cries, for all those noisy women hasten w^ithout the 
hut, and each seems to vie with the other in making 
a howling noise which sounds far ofl* over the hills. 

The body is left alone in the hut. The men, her 
nearest relatives, dig a hole outside the kraal, hurry 
in, seize the body, and, head first or feet first, thrust 
it in. The hole is filled, the hut and clothes where 
she died burned up, and the name and face of that 
woman have passed from earth never to be mentioned 
or thought of again. 

Thus does the heathen die ; I have seen it ; and 
oh ! the horror, the darkness, no words can tell. 



IN ZULU LAND. 35 

Up in that white cottage on the hillside, where 
that young man and his young wife live so happily, 
death is coming, coming there ! 

In the little room, on the bed, propped up with 
pillows, lies that wife. Beside her are some of the 
station women with sad hut quiet faces. One is 
holding her hand and talking with her of Heaven 
and her Saviour. Listen ! The sick woman opens 
her eyes and speaks. 

" I know I am dying, but why should I fear to go 
home ? I love my Saviour, I love my God, I have 
no fear, all is so bright." One of the women looking 
so sad, yet so peaceful, comes to the bedside, and 
kneeling there says, "Let us pray." As they all 
kneel, she asks God's presence there, his light in the 
dark valley, his heaven for the departing one ; and 
as they rise, the dying Avoman murmurs, ''Jesus, my 
Saviour," and she has gone from Africa's dark land 
to the land where there is no darkness nor gloom. 
They dress her in white^ and as she lies in her coffin 
her face says, " Peace, peace." The coffin is carried, 
followed by many to the grave-yard. 

A hymn, a prayer, a few words, and her body too 
is gone from sight ; but her name is on our lips, her 
life and death are to be in our hearts and on our 
tongues. Her husband is alone, but no superstition 
and darkness are there ; he says God took her, and 
he cannot mourn or complain. 

" How could I mourn when she spoke such words ? 
when 1 know she is with Christ ? Had she died in 
darkness, I could weep and complain, but to die in 
Christ, is to live." 



36 CIiniSTIAN WORK 

I would that those in America who say a mission- 
ary's life is vain, his work for naught, could witness 
these two scenes on the hillside in this African land. 
I would that the wide ocean did not prevent them 
from such a view. Full well do I believe each un- 
believing one, with U2)raised hands, would return to 
his Christian land and home, and if others said the 
work in Africa was vain, would cry out, " No, not in 
vain, for I have seen, yes, I have seen !" 

VISIT TO A KRAAL, 

FROM THE BOSTON RECORDER. 

Umvoti, South Africa, May 27, 1865. 

Many a time, when I lived in my dear American 
home, have I heard business men say, when talking 
of their cares and daily life, " They separate us from 
God ;" and many housekeepers and mothers said, " It 
is hard for us to keep near God amidst our cares ;" 
and invalids, with pain and suffering for their earthly 
portion, said, " These draw us from God." We, too, 
in our missionary life, find much to make us say, 
" How can we keep very near our God ?" 

Not many weeks ago a young man, lately from a 
heathen kraal, came to see me, and expressed a very 
strong desire to learn to read and write. His face 
and manner were so interesting, that I inquired 
where his home and parents were. lie said he lived 
with some of the Christian Zulus on the station, but 
his father, with his wives and cliildren, lived in a 
kraal a mile or more distant. He spoke also of a 



m ZULU LAND. 37 

brother, about his own age, who was ill and unable 
to move. As I became more interested in the young 
man, I wished much to see his brother who was ill, 
thinking if nothing could be done for his health, per- 
haps he might learn, and find pleasure in books. 
The heathen natives are generally fearful that books 
will bewitch them, and I knew he was but a heathen. 
Putting a "Tract Primer" in my pocket one after- 
ternoon, I got on my horse to go to Mali's home, for 
such I learned was the invalid's name. The way was 
long, and through high African grass, with no good 
road, so I Avas glad of the horse's help in reaching 
there. But at the kraal entrance the father, a tall, 
fine-looking man, met me, and to my request that he 
would hold the horse for a few moments, replied he 
was afraid the horse would bite him ; and nothing 
would induce him to touch it. These Zulu " kraals " 
are composed of a circle of huts, looking like bee- 
hives, with an entrance to each at the side about two 
feet high. 

Threading my way along, and leading the horse, I 
entered the enclosure. On the ground outside, by 
one of the huts, was seated the young man whom I 
had come to seek. His face and expression told of 
intelligence and a kind heart, but his words soon 
made me know that his body below the waist was 
useless, and he had no power to move, except his 
hands, arms and head. He seemed, though a mere 
heathen, to rejoice at the idea of learning to read, 
and I determined to give him his first lesson then 
and there. As there was no stick or stone on which 
to sit, I was obliged to use the ground for a seat, 



38 CURISTIAN WORK 

which was not very easy to do, and hold a restless 
horse. But Mali began his lesson with such zeal, I 
soon forgot all else in wondering at the rapid way 
he learned the alphabet that short half-hour. On 
leaving:, I o-ave him the book, and charo^ed him to 
study well and much. 

A few days after, I started on foot, and after rather 
a hard walk through grass and over brooks, was 
nearing the kraal, when in a narrow path I met two 
men driving a cow. Cattle are above price to a 
Zulu, and no sacrifice is too great to make for them. 
These men, therefore, had given the path to the cow, 
and were walking through the grass and bushes. I 
kept in the path, however, until when close to the 
cow's head one of the men drove it out of the way. 
At the same time, looking at me very indignantly, he 
remarked, " Don't you know enough yet to get out of 
the way and leave the path to a cow ?" Certanly the 
rules in America and Zulu-land are different as to the 
politeness which is due to cattle from people ! 

On reaching the kraal I found Mali all delight at 
seeing me, and his father said he had been made 
happy by the first visit. He had not only remem- 
bered all the letters perfectly, but had spelled out 
words and read in the book. And so it was that in 
a short time, with no help but such as my occasional 
visits afforded, he learned to read. His delight, as 
one new idea after another opened on his mind, was 
pleasant to see. He had heard but little of Christ, 
and everything he could read of his love for man 
seemed to touch him deeply. It was, then, hardly a 
surprise, yet a joy, when he one day said to me, "I 



IJ^ ZULU LAND. 39 

pray to my Father in heaven now very much. I love 
my Saviour who died for me. I hope I am his child." 

He told of the joy he found in loving Christ, of the 
lonely and unhappy days he had formerly had in the 
thoughts of his hopeless illness, and no bright spot to 
cheer those days. He contrasted with this his pres- 
ent delight in reading, the hours he spent in singing 
hymns from the little hymn-book, and the ever-con- 
tinuing joy of learning, and above all, spoke of the 
constant nearness of Christ. 

I looked around as he was speaking. There were 
the enclosure, the bare ground, the four low huts, 
with the holes to enter them,- and within only dark- 
ness and cold, or a fire and smoke. The father and 
his wives and children were unclothed. Fm-niture and 
comforts of any kind were not to be seen. The day 
long, dogs barked, children cried, men scolded and 
quarreled, women talked at the highest pitch of their 
voices. Of w^hat was good he heard nothing ; and 
yet as he sat in such a place, unable to move, in 
bodily pain and w^eakness, and his two books only 
to cheer him on in what was good, he did not say, 
" It is hard to keep near to God." And so the days 
and weeks pass away, and many a lesson can he teach 
of joy and peace in believing, even among the sur- 
roundings which would seem to separate him from 
his God. His brother is also a Christian now, and 
when he meets the brother who is ill*, they pray to- 

* This boy lias recovered. As tlie application of electricity 
was impossible, tliey tried washing with, soap and water, with 
dry rubbing and rough friction, and he regained the use of his 
limbs. 



40 CHRISTIAN WORK 

gether for their parents and friends who have none 
of the joy and peace they have found. 

Their father now mourns because his sons have left 
their heathen home and ways ; yet he does not evince 
the violent opposition which some parents show. In 
a kraal near to us, one of the sons left his parents 
and came on to the station. His friends caught him, 
as he was passing their home one day, took off his 
clothes and burned them, obliging the young man to 
stay with them by force, and making him drink their 
native beer to intoxication. He at length succeeded 
in running from them and returning to the station. 
They made one other attempt to take him, and then 
decided to let him stay and be a Christian if he chose. 
He very eagerly began to learn, and made great pro- 
gress. At the time when some of his young friends 
were professing their faith in Christ, he decided to 
unite with them. And now he and many more such 
young men, who left their kraals amid persecution 
and unkind treatment, are joining together to pray 
for their parents and brothers and sisters, and do all 
in their power to lead them to Christ. The parents 
often at last say, " It is good that our children be- 
lieve ; but we are too old." Though we are saddened 
by their refusal to hear with the heart, we rejoice to 
see their sons and daughters, one after another, com- 
ing, as they express it, "out of the darkness into the 
shining light." 

Nor do they think, among all their persecutions 
and temptations, that it is liard in this heathen land 
to keep near God. Perhaps they may teach us all a 
lesson in this thinsj ! 



m ZULU LAND. 41 

ZULU CHEISTIAXS. 



PROM THE BOSTON RECORDER. 



It seems as if most of our good friends in America 
thought that a Zuhi might be on one day running 
wild over the hills, heathen and heathenish, and the 
next day become a Christian suddenly, and change 
in every respect. I doubt, however, in all the his- 
tory of this mission, if such a case were ever known. 
It is slow and gradual, this change, and sometimes 
it is long before the bright, yet ever-hoped-for end 
appears. The stations are increased from year to 
year by the coming of young people from the kraals. 
Some come for a home among friends, some come 
for work and pay, and many young girls run for pro- 
tection against those whom they do not wish to 
marry. I suppose a few come to the station to be- 
come Christianized or civilized, but they do change 
all^ as time rolls on, and seeing the " more excellent 
way," choose it, and give us joy in our hearts. 
These " young people " are, perhaps as an average, 
about sixteen years of age. They come heathen 
and unclothed, but by degrees the clothing and 
teaching work in them changes in character and 
habits, and when God's Spirit comes to them they 
seem fitted to live as the disciples of Christ, and 
glorify Him. 

I have often looked at them, still young and strong 
and full of life, and thought how each could tell a tale 
of sorrow and suffering unlike those of us who grew 
up with good parents in our good land of America. 



42 CHRISTIAN WORK 

Go into one of their schools, where, evening after 
evenings they write and read, and study many 
things. Go back into the history of each one, and 
your blood will almost run cold, and you will not 
wonder that they say they are blessed in their pres- 
ent life. Here is a young girl who had eight spears 
thrust into her when she was escaping in war and 
crossing a river. Here is another who was found a 
child, fastened on the back of her mother, the mother 
dead, floating on the waters. Here is a girl whose 
friends sold her for cattle to an old polygamist, and 
she, in her heart loving a young man, yet sent to 
the old one because he could pay two more cows 
for her than he whom she loved. She ran to the 
station, and the father, partly from fear of the law, 
and partly by persuasion, has allowed her to remain, 
and thus will lose two cows. 

Look at the young men, and it is the same story, 
not of marriage, for in this they can do as they wish, 
but of persecution or danger. Among my scholars 
was a young man with such a fine face, so full of 
intelligence and strength. I noticed that part of 
the little finger of his left hand was gone, and one 
day I asked him how it was. " Oh," he replied, 
" that is my tribe. I am an Ixosa, my tribe live 
many hundred miles from here. In our tribe, when 
the children are a few weeks old, the little finger is 
cut oiF to mark the tribe, and we none of us have 
little fiuGfcrs to our left hands. Our tribe was <rreat 
and powerful, but the witch-doctors destroyed it. 
They killed cattle and put their heads on men's 
shoulders in a pool of water, and then after incanta- 



IN ZULU LAND, 43 

tions, etc., they made the animals call out and tell 
the people to slay all their cattle. The people sup- 
posing the cattle spoke by divine authority, did as 
they were told. Their food thus was gone, and as 
the people went to neighboring tribes for food, hun- 
dreds fell down and died of starvation. I had left 
my friends and wandered far. Sinking on the 
ground exhausted, to die, one of the Christians from 
the Zulu stations found me. He brought me here 
with him. I am clothed and taught, and now I hope 
I love the Saviour, whom I should never have known 
but for God's care of me when near death." His 
friends are dead, or, if some are living, they are 
separated by a hostile tribe from here, and he could 
not go to see them if he would. 

This young Ixosa is black, but at his side sits a 
young man, light in complexion, and smiling and 
happy looking. Who was his father? A young 
man from one of Holland's first families, a poor lost 
son. And this father came to a place where no 
law could control his sins. Wild, he wandered 
among the Zulus; like them, yet more low and de- 
graded. His two little children, with their Zulu 
mother, Were tossed about here and there. The 
father perished in a Zulu war, and the children, more 
needy than any Zulu, were without a place to call 
home. The mother afterward married a polygamist 
chief, and these two little children were made as 
servants to the Zulus, who, low as they were, could 
not but despise their white father in his greater de- 
gradation. Thus they grew up, yet going down, 
down, and now the poor sister, after a life of evil, 



44 CHRISTIAN WORK 

is God knows where. The son " Charlie," as we 
call him, came to work for a Zulu at a station. This 
seemed the turning 23oint in his life. Though grown, 
he eagerly sought an education, and the influence of 
all around him has raised him up and up. At our 
last communion he joined himself with the Church 
of Christ. 

There, by the riv^er, is a girl neat and bright look- 
ing, with a pail of water on her head. We do not 
need to ask her history. Her kraal is ten miles in- 
land. She was soon to be sold to an evil old man, 
and one night she ran away. Her father and broth- 
ers followed her, and tried to take her back. She 
refused to go ; and more and more delighted with 
civilization and instruction, she told us she could not 
go back to her kraal. The father and brothers be- 
came determined, and armed with spears, their 
friends came to help them carry this poor girl off by 
force. They came nearer and she heard, and trem- 
blingly w^aited wuthin a mile of our chapel. As the 
father walked, an adder bit his foot, and in a few 
short moments the wretched man was dead. The 
brothers and friends affrighted, declared this was 
sent by their sister's God, and home they went, nor 
will they dare again come to touch their sister. 

And thus if you go into our chapel on Sunday ; 
the pews are full quite back to the door. At the 
end of the pew sits the mother, her little ones by 
her side, and their father at the door of the pew. 
They all look happy, and not only clean but pretty. 
Quiet and devout, attentive and interested, they 
listen and right well do they sing those hymns and 



JiY ZULU LAND. 45 

tunes which in America you use each week. Ask 
them their early history. They were the " young 
people " of years ago, and they can tell their tale of 
suffering and escape, as those who are young now. 
But they thank their God, with earnest prayers, 
that theii' children were born in the light of 
God's truth, and their greatest desire is that their 
children be wise and good. You would not see a 
more quiet, well-behaved congregation anywhere. 
But I have heard these men, who now are so respect- 
able and worthy of respect, I have heard them tell 
of the time when they were little boys. The mis- 
sionaries had just come, and their jDarents from 
curiosity went to see and hear, taking them as chil- 
dren with them. They sat under a tree, the people 
" squatting " on the ground around them. Women 
with babies on their backs, men with dogs by their 
side, " young men and maidens." Order there was 
none. In the midst of a prayer two men would 
begin to take snuff and sneeze, or a boy would 
pinch a child and make it cry, women would tickle 
each other and laugh, and all would beat or pinch 
the dogs, causing them to howl out loudly. This 
was the ''order" of those days, such noises as you 
seldom hear in America. These were the heathen 
congregations of years ago, and there are such now, 
differing perhaps a very little, from the fact that 
the people all know now they are expected to be 
quiet and decent when with a missionary. And 
we have to feel that our hope of usefulness is in 
the young. The old men and women say they are 
too old to pray, too old to learn to love God, and 



46 CHRISTIAN WORK 

with very few exceptions they die as they have 
lived. But their children do learn to pray, and see 
that the young people on the stations are happier 
and better off than they. 

There are some families where every child has left 
his father and come to the stations, and there are 
some fathers who are glad that their children can be 
taught and enlightened. There is an old witch- 
doctor near us, who spends his time deceiving peo23le, 
boiling roots and old rubbish, and with all kinds of 
arts pretending to cure or to discover witches or 
thieves, etc. Yet this man, shrewd and smart, has 
seen the blessing of light and knowledge. 

At his desire therefore, all his children are sent to 
the station, are taught and clothed, and he hopes 
they will be Christians. Yet he knows his feet are 
going down to death, his soul doubly darkened with 
the sin of knowing he deceived the people. 

We have heard of deaths in the kraals, where the 
dying seemed, though in heathenism, to be the fol- 
lowers of Christ. And thus we hope and pray that 
far from our stations light may penetrate, and many 
enter heaven whom we know nothing of in this 
world. We cannot tell of these, but they belong to 
Him. " I am the good Shepherd and know my sheep," 
these are a Saviour's words. 



IN ZULU LAND, 47 



A STRANGE THING. 



FROM THE CONGREGATIONALIST. 



Of course the people in America ought to be wiser 
than we, who are so much cut off from society and 
influences to make ns wise ; but I want to speak of 
a strange thing which perhaps even their wisdom 
has not told them. 

When I first came to Africa, of course I did not 
understand the language ; and I often wondered, as 
the natives were speaking and praying, what their 
words meant. Well do I remember one Sunday! 
It was " Monthly Concert," which, as I was always 
told in America, is the time set apart to pray for the 
whole world, that God's "kingdom may come." So 
do our people regard it, and I suppose that at all the 
missions they have taught their people the same. 

On that Sunday which I remember, at the monthly 
concert one of the men made a prayer. He spoke so 
distinctly, that with my increasing knowledge of the 
language, I could understand nearly every word. 
First, he prayed a few words for themselves, but the 
prayer was chiefly for others. Yes, he remembered 
for what the meeting was intended. He remembered 
that all the rest of the month they could pray for 
themselves, and the monthly concert he put to its 
real use, and prayed for the Avorld. He was black, 
and a short time since, a few years at most, was a 
savage, wild among the hills. Yet he prayed for the 
white people over the sea, who were not Christians. 
He prayed for the Jews, the Mohammedans, the black 



48 CHRISTIAN WORK 

people in Africa, the Chinese, and those who live on 
the isles of the ocean. Fervently he remembered 
them all, and for Christ's sake he asked blessings on 
them all, and that they might be taught and Chris- 
tianized. 

It seemed as if a new feeling rushed over me that 
day. I was brought up to attend the monthly con- 
certs since I was a child, and I have attended them in 
America, in cities, towns and villages; but because 
this man's prayer seemed strange, I began to think. 
I thought he certainly made a good prayer, I thought 
it was exactly suited to the occasion, and then it 
dawned on my mind why it seemed a strange prayer. 
It was because the man was not selfish ; he had a 
large heart, and once a month he was willing to forget 
himself and his friends a little, and to remember the 
world. 

Perhaps America is not now as it was. Let me re- 
member ! Brother A — used to jjray ; he prayed long 
and loud for us^ that ive might be this, and we might 
be that, and then all in a hurry at the end, he would 
pray, " Thy kingdom come," and say " Amen," and 
sit down. Brother B — did the same ; and Mr. C — 
and Mr. D — and all of them. So it was because I 
was brought up on such prayer at monthly concerts 
that when I heard a prayer for the world, I had a 
strange feeling of wonder and began to think. 

Good friends in America, don't you envy us our 
monthly concerts? Listen, if you have never no- 
ticed it before, and see if there is not a sad selfishness 
in these meetings. How often do you hear the na- 
tions prayed for by name ? Count the times, and 



m ZULU LAND. 49 

count the number of times you hear the word " us." 
See which has the largest share of prayers and most 
blessings called down, you or the world, 

I don't undervalue you^ I know you need to be 
prayed for, but this meeting is once a month, I un- 
derstand all these African prayers now ; and oh, it 
seems to me hard, very hard, that they should all 
pray for you so much and so earnestly, while you 
pray for yourselves alone, perhaps giving them half 
a thought, or including them hastily in the words, 
" Thy kingdom come. 



YISIT TO UMBITA]SA'S STATION. 

Umvoti, November, 1866. 

I send this account by itself, because I would like 
it circulated, as far as may be possible, without its 
being published, feeling sure it will interest all, and 
especially those who helped in the box of clothing 
sent last March. 

Wednesday was the day appointed for the Com- 
munion Service at Umbiyana's."^ This man is a Zulu 
who as a boy lived w^ith Mr. Marsh. He became 
a Christian there, and was left at the time of Mr. 
Marsh's death, together with William, the man who 
led Bishop Colenso to change his views. William 
and Umbiyana were of the same age. The former 
went to Colenso's station, the latter to a Norwegian 
station. 

Three years ago Umbiyana applied to the Ameri- 

* 06in-be-ali-nah. 



60 CHRISTIAN WORK 

can missionaries for a place where he could work for 
bis countrymen. He is a small man, but with a pleas- 
ant expression and very neat-looking. He was given 
a place in the interior about half way between Mr. 
Abraham's and Mr. Tyler's. It is an out-of-the-way 
place, in among the mountains, so difficult of access 
that a wagon has to cross and recross a river seven 
times in order to reach it. On horseback it can be 
reached by three or four different roads, all of which 
illustrate Mr. Lindley's remark, that he had " always 
noticed it was about as long a way over an orange 
as around the side." Thus in these roads, you can 
either go down a high hill and up again, or up a high 
hill and down again. 

Mr. Tyler came to Mr. Abraham's, and we set out 
in the morning about eight o'clock. The clay there 
is so slippery, our horses had great difficulty to keep 
on their feet, and when we began to go down the 
hills we had to dismount and go down with a pole 
to keep from slipping and falling. There were sev- 
eral Christian natives with us from other stations 
who were going there to join in the services. You 
can hardly imagine the roads, so steep and on the 
edge of high cliffs, over the trunks of trees and over 
stones, as we went scrambling, slipping and walking. 
We sometimes mounted and rode for a little, and 
then were obliged to dismount again. We crossed 
two rivers a good deal swollen by the rain, still not 
dangerous. The scenery was very beautiful as we 
vStood on the tops of high mountains and looked far 
into the distance, or again as we stood in the valleys 
and looked upon the heights above us. 



IN ZULU LAND, 51 

Turning around a mountain, after crossing the last 
river, suddenly brought us in sight of the station, and 
it sent a thrill through me, so far away from houses 
and civilization. The largest house, Umbiyana's, is 
on a hill, and below this hill lies the kraal of the chief, 
and a number of other kraals are around. There is 
a large plain here plowed and full of grain just com- 
ing up. To the left is a high mountain, round and 
running up almost to the clouds, perpendicular and 
inaccessible. To the right is the valley through which 
the river runs, and over in another direction are high 
rolling hills and valleys. The house is of brick and 
quite large, and the people are in houses near. The 
whole place has been cleared and cleaned and plant- 
ed, and bricks are being made for the new chapel, 
built principally with part of the money sent by Mr. 
's church in New York. 

As we rode up to the house, ITmbiyana came out 
to meet us, looking very happy, as he had good rea- 
son to be. His people came around, and the first 
thing I saw was that some of the men were wearing 
coats that came in that box from New York ; the 
women and children also in clothing which that same 
box brought over the water. 

You must not think I talk too much of dress, for 
I tell particulars so that you can imagine it all. The 
men spoke to us first, and then Umbiyana's wife came 
out, a pretty, bright little thing, and asked me to 
"walk in." She has two pretty little children, and 
is herself intelligent, and manages beside her own 
family to teach the women and girls to sew, to cut, 
to cook and keep things in order. They call her 



52 CHRISTIAN WORK 

" princess," the title of a chief's wife. The children 
had print dresses and white aprons and sun-bonnets, 
and showed in their very faces that they were 
civilized. She wore a white collar, etc., and was 
dressed better than the people, as was her husband. 
I should think her to be twenty-one years old. She 
took me into her room and told me all her cares and 
duties. Soon the door opened and the women came 
in ; there were two pretty young women with their 
babies, some girls, some old women nearly worn out, 
and several middle aged women. I looked at them, 
and there seemed a light about them, as I thought 
how out in these wild hills they had learned to love 
God from one of their own race, himself just out of 
darkness ; and they seemed so full of respect for their 
missionary's wife, while she put the last touch to 
make their dresses straight and told me their history 
as she did so. 

There are now twenty-nine dressed persons living 
with Umbiyana, over twenty of whom are Christians, 
and eighteen form his church ; the others waiting to 
be received at the next time. He himself is not or- 
dained, and therefore is not able to hold these serv- 
ices without a minister's being present. As his chapel 
is not finished, our service was to be under a thatch- 
ed roof supported by poles, a wagon-house I believe 
it is. There were a table and a few benches around, 
and the children sat on mats on the floor. He calls 
the people by blowing an ox horn, which rings over 
those hills. (A bell has since been sent him for his 
church). We sat down, and the eight who were to 
join his church were there. The first was a man who 



IN ZULU LAND. 53 

had had four wives, three he had put away, one he 
keeps, and she joined the church Avith him. One wife 
is old and remains with her grown children on the 
station. It is a great thing for a man like that to cut 
off his head ring and come out as a Christian, far 
harder than for a young man to do so. But he spoke 
decidedly : " I was in my kraal, and I seemed to hear 
a voice and I could not refuse." His wife told how 
her friends tried to get her away from her husband 
when he became a Christian, and she ran from them 
and said, " Would you have him in light and me in 
darkness ?" 

There was also another man with his wife. The 
wife said she came to hear Umbiyana preach, and 
" the preaching ate her ! It seemed as if she was the 
only sinner in the world, and every word was meant 
for her, and she could not rest in her heart." 

There was a young man, a fine noble fellow, who 
had been persecuted by his friends, but he stood de- 
cided and will make a remarkable man. There were 
two little boys fourteen years old, who had also been 
^' jDcrsecuted for righteousness' sake," but their words 
were clear and decided ; and by them was an old 
woman on the very grave's brink, yet she knew what, 
she believed, and her face did not change even when 
the heathen laughed at the idea of baptizing '^ such 
an old thing, fit only to die and be cast out." 

These are the eight ; and of the ten others, two 
were old women, two young men, and the rest hus- 
bands with their wives. After their examination, 
Mr. Tyler preached a sermon to the heathen, who 
were in a crowd around. They were dressed in 



54 CHRISTIAN WORK 

beads and every sort of thing, and had their spears 
and shields, but were very orderly, for they dearly 
love Umbiyana, and doubtless from them many will 
come out to him, as has been the case in the years 
gone by. 

Can you see it ? Under that wagon-house roof, a 
little band baptized one by one; no silver^ only a 
common blue china bowl for water; no organ, or 
handsome church, or great congregation; only the 
blue sky, wild mountain peaks and the birds and 
trees, with the ground around covered with gaily- 
dressed, feathered, painted, and armed men and wo- 
men. But it was the same in God's sight. And I 
looked around thinking / had never witnessed such 
a scene, wishing you all could see it. Our singing 
rolled out sweetly among the hills, for there are some 
fine singers there, and we sang " The Shining Shore " 
and "Nearer, my God, to Thee" and " Coronation" 
among those hills without organ or choir. 

After they were baptized we went away, and re- 
turned in a few minutes to have the Communion 
Service. There were some from other stations, mak- 
ing in all quite a little band, and there was a solem- 
nity which I never felt even in our great churches at 
home, where all is so imposing. The people felt^ and 
the want of a Communion Service, church, or other 
things was little to them. One old woman said to 
me, " I have been sick for several weeks, but I could 
not stay away to-day. We are old and are women 
despised elsewhere, but in Jesus' eyes we are the 
same as the greatest in the world. My son cast me 
out, and then when I became a Christian he denied 



IN ZULU LAND. 55 

me food, but I am happy for the few months left 
me." 

These poor old women make mats and sell them to 
the missionaries, and thus by hard work earn suffi- 
cient to keep themselves clothed. There were one 
or two children baptized, and to one of these an old 
heathen woman, naked, except her cow-skin dress, 
said, " N ow you must be good always, for you are a 
child of the King in heaven now." 

After the service I went and sat in the verandah. 
The people gathered about, and I talked with one 
and another. There were two or three children 
whom their parents had given to Umbiyana to train 
as Christians. One or two of the young men told 
me how their fathers had disinherited them and cast 
them off; and one girl said her friends came raging 
after her, and she walked up and said, " Here is a 
spear, kill me ! but you can never take me back 
again to heathenism." 

It was wonderful through all, to see the love and 
respect they have for their missionary. His word is 
law ; and yet he is so kind and humble they come to 
him for everything. He builds their houses, teaches 
them to read, to write, to plow, and for everything 
they wish to know they go to him. He has large 
congregations of heathen and large schools. He told 
me he needed writing books, which have been sent 
to him, and when the next box comes, some of the 
clothing will be sent there, for I am sure it is well 
used. If the friends could see, they would be thankful 
to be allowed to work or give, to help that man in 
his great work for his people. 



56 CHBISTIAN WORK 

I sat with them there till the sun bescan to otq 
down, and was sorry to say " good-bye " to one and 
all. If I live I intend to go and spend some days 
there again, for what is a bad road with such scenes 
at the end ? 



UMBIYAIN^A'S KEPORT. 

Juis-E, 1867. 

Here are the words I have to speak. 

The members of my church, male and female, 
including my wife and myself, are eighteen. Those 
w^ho are Christians, yet not members, number four. 

The people come to church sometimes in large num- 
bers, sometimes fewer come. The children of the 
kraals wish to learn, but some of them are hindered 
by their parents. There is school at the station 
every day. On Sunday I try to teach all the kraal 
people to read in books. They love me, and I love 
them, and we do not complain of each other. 

I go to the kraals every Friday and preach. The 
people listen ; they say it is true and good. They 
say I must come always. 

Thus I walk in my work — the work of the Lord. 
I love it. There is no other such great work, such 
lovely work. No ; I rejDcat it, there is no other such 
work so noble in the world. I lono* for more strenirth 
from God than I now have ; for to-day my strength 
is small, I need help from above. 

I am made sad by the people. When I talk with 
them they say it is true, but they do not believe. 



IJSr ZULU LAND. 57 

nevertheless. They do not deny it is true. I long 
for the Holy Spirit in this delightful work. 

Our children, and their nurses and the working 
people, number fourteen. Altogether, dressed people, 
we are thirty-six at our station. 

I need a chapel, and have tried to make one. My 
oxen died of lung-sickness, so for a short time I was 
stopped. I have made a school-house. The length 
is thirty-seven feet, the width fourteen. It is of 
brick. 

Those joining the church this year are eight in 
number. XJmbiyana. 



Later, Umbiyana reports forty-two converts 
three years at his station. 



m 



yiSIT TO 3IUSI. 

Umvoti, November, 1866. 

I have been trying to find time to tell you of my 
visit to Musi, the chief of the Amqwabe, and a 
famous man in these parts. Mr. Abraham went 
with me, as he himself wished to visit Musi's"^ kraal 
and home. I cannot say precisely how far it is from 
Mapumulof or Umvoti,J for the road is over the 
steepest hills and deepest valleys, and can hardly 
be measured by miles. Very soon after leaving 
Mr. Abraham's, we began to go down and up in 
such places, and at such angles, as I have only seen 
in the White Mountains. Even the horses were 

* Moo-see. f Mah-poo-moo-lo. % Oom-v6-ty. 
3* 



58 CHRISTIAN WORK 

frightened at the road, and sometimes stood still 
afraid to go forward. 

In the midst of this really dangerous road, I could 
not help admiring the scenery, distant views in all 
directions, rivers rushing through the valleys, smooth 
green hills rolling regularly along, thick wooded 
land and innumerable flowers of every color. The 
only signs of human life were in the kraals scattered 
here and there, and the cattle upon these thousand 
hills. We did not pass many kraals, although 
many were visible, which seemed small enough as 
we looked down upon them from the heights. 

As we approached Musi's territory the number of 
kraals increased, and they appeared on every side. 
His abode is called " The Evening Star," and sud- 
denly it came in view, perched on a hill by itself. 
After various turnino;s and twistino^s w^e ascended 
that hill and came suddenly to the entrance of the 
fence, what in America would be called a gate^ only 
there is no gate there. Leaving the horses outside, 
we were saluted by " How are you ?" from a number 
of men seated inside, near the place w^here the cows 
were being milked. We walked around this circular 
place, and at the back found a hut enclosed by a 
private fence, which, except for the enclosure, was 
externally just like all the other huts. Presently 
there appeared a tall, fine-looking man, with a very 
pleasant face, and an air about him which showed 
him to be a chief. He was very cordial in his greet- 
ings, and invited us to " walk in." 

Mr. A. went to look after the horses, and Musi 
called for a mat to be placed at the entrance, on 



m ZULU LAND. 69 

which he crawled in. The doors are always small 
and low. Then he told me to follow him, and im- 
mediately had the mat removed to prevent " common 
people " from entering upon it. He sat on one side 
of the door on a number of mats ; I was quite near 
him, and two of his wives were there. 

Almost his first words were, "Well, when am I 
going to have some one to teach me and my people ?" 
I told him I did not know ; our missionaries were 
talking about it, but I did not know what they had 
decided to do. I began to talk of something else, 
but he sat quiet and then said : 

" When I saw you I hoped you had come to teach 
us. Why is it that other places are taught and we 
cannot learn ? I will build a house, I have chosen 
a place, and will do everything I can to help a mis- 
sionary. Do you not see I am a chief? I have 
many people under my authority, and I want the 
whole tribe to learn. DonU you think the people in 
America could send me somebody ? I think I should 
soon be a Christian. I used to hear from Dr. Adams 
long ago, and I remember the Lord's Prayer and 
some hymns now. Do you not know I am not like 
other chiefs ? I like the light and learning, and I 
want to be taught." 

I asked him how he would like one of his own 
race. " Oh," said he, " somebody I must have ; and 
if I cannot have some one from over the ocean, I 
must take a black person. I do not wish time 
thrown away. I want the children to learn while 
they are young. If I cannot possibly have a white 
person, then I will be glad of a black person." 



60 CHRISTIAN WORK 

I had a long talk with him, too long to repeat, in 
which I tried to find his reasons for wishing a mis- 
sionary so much, for it is perhaps an unprecedented 
case in this land. The chiefs are generally so bigoted, 
and it is, with them here as in the days of Christ, the 
common people who hear gladly. From what I 
could judge in talking, it would seem that Musi's 
boyhood was spent near or at one of the stations. 
It is years since he left, yet there and then he learned 
to believe that there is a God, and to believe in 
Christ. He also saw then that learning did no 
harm, which removed his superstition in that respect, 
and it is as he himself said — " The chief near me 
grew up in heathenism, so he is afraid of everything 
and does not wish any light. As for myself I grew 
up at a station, and I saw that the light was good, 
though I did not then receive it." 

This then, is one reason ; he has not such a wall of 
superstition about him. Another is, that he is a very 
ambitious man ; he wishes to be above other people 
and better than they. Therefore, seeing that the 
Christians are every way elevated far above the 
heathen, he wishes to build his own glory, not only 
on his rank and power, but on his wisdom. I can- 
not say his motives are the highest or the most pure, 
nevertheless, it is a great and wide-open door in a 
place Avhere every one is counted, and causes grati- 
tude. To teach a whole kraal is a great thing. Here 
is a tribe. I think the truth is in Musi's heart, covered 
it is true, by many things, but still a spark which 
may fan into a flame now if efforts are made. I was 
greatly interested in his son, a boy fourteen years 



nsr ZULU land. ei 

old, who will succeed his father as chief. The boy 
fairly shines with smartness, and I believe could 
learn to read in a few weeks. He seemed quite 
unwilling to listen to a word of having to wait for 
a teacher w^hile other boys were wise, and he, the 
chief's son, below them in learning. The children 
all seemed pretty and bright, and Musi said the 
kraals far and wide swarmed with children, and he 
had only to say "come," and they would all come. 
You cannot appreciate all this, but it makes my 
heart bound to think of it, for we have to pick up 
one here and one there, and many are bound and 
kept from learning, and others are persecuted; and 
it is like finding a fountain of water in a desert, for 
our liearts thirst for such things, and we find but 
the drop here and there to cheer and refresh us, 
while here is a fountain. 

I wish some one might be sent from home. In 
many places a native does well, but here, I should 
say, find the right man from America and these hills 
would soon ring with other words than those now 
spoken there. 

But to return to the visit. I have said Musi's 
wives were some of them in the hut, and soon there 
came a young bride, as her costume showed, to whom 
the chief showed attention and partiality enough to 
have caused the others to poison or shoot themselves 
with envy had they been white. His breakfast was 
about to be served, at the amount of which I was 
filled with astonishment, until I learned that he had 
not eaten since the day before. One wife bowing 
before him on the ground, poured water on his 



62 CHBISTIAN WORK 

hands, and by the way, he had soap and towels — 
wonder of wonders ! in heathenism. Then a covered 
dish of meat was brought in, he eating with a knife 
and four-tined fork. His covered china dishes, etc., 
he had bought from white people, and he remarked 
he thought he knew how to use them about as well 
as a white man, a fact I did not dispute. 

When the meat was eaten, another wife mixed ^ 
some corn and sour milk, and crouching before him, 
presented it. He ate a dish of that, and when he had 
finished it, the last spoonful Avas poured into the 
hands of the wife, as her reward for her services. 
Meantime the other wife, for the bride did not work 
or serve, mixed some beer in a pitcher, and fanned 
the flies from his face while he drank. 1 handed 
him a piece of bread we had brought for lunch, and 
he seemed greatly to enjoy it, saying he wished his 
wives knew how to cook such things, they were so 
sweet and good. 

Then suddenly he told a daughter outside to go 
and tell his wife who was cooking, to roast him an 
ox's heart. While this was being prepared, some 
old women came to the door, and after a long intro- 
duction in the style of the address in Daniel, " O 
king, live forever," etc., and having chanted a song 
in his praise, they informed him that they were 
dying with hunger, which was of course, an exag- 
geration, common enough here however. He replied 
they could eat in the afternoon when the sun was 
there, pointing to about three o'clock. Here the old 
women chanted again their thanks and withdrew. 

It is not easy to understand the women's language. 



m ZULU LAND, 63 

There are so many words which they are not allowed 
to speak, that everything has a different name, and 
it sounds almost like another lano-ua^-e. 

. By this time the ''heart" was cooked and was 
brought in by a boy ; but Musi ordered it to be re- 
turned and brought as he had directed, by a girl, 
his daughter. The people seemed frightened at 
their mistake, and the girl hastened to appear. He 
gave pieces to his wives and the people around, eat- 
ing the choice bits himself. While eating, he talked 
about many things, and every sentence was responded 
to by his wives, '' Yes, my lord ;" as for example, 
they were crouching around, and he would say: 

"Now, I think" "Yes, my lord," "that 

this meat," " Yes, my lord," " is very nice." 

" Yes, my lord," till I was quite tired of hear- 
ing it, and wondered he was not. 

He was continually returning to the subject of find- 
ing a teacher, and said he should go to the mission- 
aries in person and apply, which he has since done. 
He has quite a number of nice things, clothing, 
chairs, dishes, oxen, carts, plows, etc., and said he 
was intending to build himself a house like the mis- 
sionaries. I really believe he thoroughly likes civil- 
ization, while I confess in those mountains his people 
are all heathenish to a greater extent than I have 
seen elsewhere. He himself is putting one foot out 
of the mire, and if a helping hand is reached out to 
him, he will put out both feet and drag those who 
are with him that they follow him. 

Thus we came away from that " Evening Star," 
and I felt half sad, half glad, as I looked back and 



64 CnmSTIAN WORK 

thought how that hill may be made really to shine 
as a star, and give brightness far around it, if the 
Gospel is quickly sent; and most fervently do I pray 
God that it may be so. 

As no white man could be found, the missionary 
sent was John Illonono, a preacher and elder in the 
church at Umvoti. 

REPORT FROM MUSFS STATION. 

Umvoti, July, 1867. 

I think you cannot but be interested in my repeat- 
ing a conversation I had the other day with Illonono. 
You know he is at Musi's, and his heart and soul 
seem full of his missionary work. He came here one 
day, and I met him on the road as he was returning. 
I said to him I supposed there was not much to tell 
yet from his part of the world, as he had been there 
so short a time. 

He said : " There is more to tell than you would 
well believe. I never saw people so anxious to learn. 
While I am trying to build my house, with the two 
young men from the station who help me, we can 
hardly work, because of the people coming to learn ; 
and when evening comes we light a great fire (one 
of the young men said he thought it must be as large 
as the one Shadrach and his friends were \}\\t into), 
and by its light we teach until midnight. 

" On Sunday we worship under a great tree, and 
often a hundred or more are present. After our serv- 
ice, all learn to read ; and we should be glad of thirty 



Z.Y ZULU LAND. 65 

teachers instead of three, so anxious and eager are 
they. 

^' List Sunday a man who has a hxrge kraal said 
lie did not wish his daughters taught, lest they run 
away and be Christians, and he get few cattle for 
them at their marriage. Therefore we did not teach 
the girls. Monday morning a man who lives near, 
and has as many as fifty children, came to me and 
wanted to know what all this meant ; his girls learned 
nothing yesterday. I said I had been requested not 
to teach the gh-ls. 'Well,' he replied, 'my girls 
are mine, and / want them taught, and if they be- 
come Christians, so much the better, and I shall be 
very angry if my children are not all taught.' So 
we teach his girls. 

" The people of course cannot sing hymns, but we 
sing and they make a noise which sounds much like 
the buzzing of wasps or bees, and they think they 
sing. They are very anxious to sing hymns and tell 
their children to listen hard^ so as to learn to sing 
well. 

" A few weeks ago a boy came from a kraal far off 
and learned the first ten letters of the alphabet. He 
went home and the next week brought some of his 
brothers and sisters, and lo ! they also knew the first 
ten letters. They said he had taught them, and they 
learned the rest of the letters, one telling the other, 
until w^e wonder very much to see how fast some of 
them learn to read. We are astonished also to see 
how they understand the words preached to them. 
Some of them can repeat most of a sermon and seem 
to understand well. 



GO CnRISTIAN WORK 

" It makes me wonder very much that people should 
be so quick to hear of God and Christ. I really feel 
as if there never were people so ready for the Gospel 
and interested in it as these people. Such a short 
time ago they were afraid of the sight of a book, and 
not one w^ould have listened to a word about God, 
or of being Christians, and now they are more than 
willing. It seems indeed the work of God himself." 

Hlonono seems well fitted for the work which 
he has undertaken, and to which he has given his 
heart. He is not more than thirty years old, but 
reads and writes Zulu and English, and is well ad- 
vanced in Arithmetic. His sermons are very good. 

You see we black people send our best offerings to 
teach ; we don't say, " anybody is good enough for 
a missionary ;" so our best preacher, a man whom 
all respect, our best singer except one, and our main 
reliance, was sent away to this wild place. 

He left his business and work when he was grow- 
ing rich and went for a small salary to live among 
the heathen, and as he and his wife were brought up 
on a station (her father was a Christian), it is a real 
sacrifice going away from their home and all their 
comforts and privileges. He will miss his music and 
many things which he enjoys here. I mention this, 
because I dare say many will think it is nothing for 
a Zulu to be a missionary to his own people. 

They say at first they are so lonely, away from all 
Christian intercourse and companionship, until their 
people begin to be Christians ; and they don't like 
heathen life and ways any better than we do. But 
they go cheerfully and heartily to their work. 



IJSr ZULU LAND. 67 



APPEAL TO THE CHURCH. 

Umyoti, January 3, 1867. 

My Dear Friexds, — The sun has been shining 
with its summer heat these last few weeks, and Ave 
have not felt the strength which we really need to 
do all the teaching and work here around us. 

There is a great deal of cant in the world, and in 
books and newspapers and preaching, and we often 
hear of missionaries as " bearing the burden and heat 
of the day;" but I am not going to write cant, nor 
yet to talk as if writing ; I only want to speak as if 
we were talking, and tell you what is in my heart. 

Well, the weather has been hot, and it is hard to 
be cheerful and hopeful, and to work with energy at 
such times. Then I was thinking by way of cheer- 
ing myself, that the next day (it was Thursday) 
would bring home letters and papers, "good news 
from home." Expecting this seemed to make my 
heart lighter, and my feet too. Thursday came, and 
opening the Observer I saw an account of the meeting 
of the American Board at Pittsfield. That seemed 
to make another bright side to my heart as I began 
to read it, and I thought we should hear of plenty of 
money, and still better, plenty of men to help in these 
days, when every field is so much under-supplied 
with men. We need men here ; could find work for 
many more ; and if other places are supplied as we 
are, I am sorry for the heathen and the missionaries. 

I read hopefully on until it comes to the record of 
a sad part of the meeting : there were no men ofier- 



68 CHRISTIAN WORK 

ing themselves to go abroad. There I stopped. I 
looked to see if the words were really there ; I looked 
at the hills around me where the heathen dwelt ; I 
looked at the sun and sky and thought how tired we 
all were, and for one little moment I thought if this 
be true in America, where they are so surrounded 
by comforts to soul and body, it would be well 
for us if we could just go to sleep and w^ake up in 
heaven. 

Just a moment this feeling lasted, and then I was 
grieved at the selfishness of such a thought. But I 
put down the Observer^ and went into my room, and 
there was a long and bitter struggle, which God only 
knows, before I could say, " If God permits this, it 
must be well." 

It was easy to see His hand in the disappoint- 
ments of our life here ; it was easy to see it and say, 
" It is w^ell," when He called to his holy heaven those 
whom we loved. It was easy to feel it was well 
even when the heart was crying out in loneliness for 
them, for their journey w^as heavenward ; but do 
you wonder if my heart long refused to say, " it is 
well," as I saw the road not heavenward, in which 
were walking those whom I loved, and who were 
calling for some one to show them the road to heav- 
en ; it was hard to say, " it is well," when I saw there 
was no reason why there were not scores ready to 
show these that heavenly road, no reason w^hich Jesus 
Christ w^ould call a reason. 

But I was able after that great struggle, to see 
God's great love to those poor people, and to ask 
him to forgive those who thought they had a reason 



IJ^ ZULU LAND. 69 

to give their Saviour. But I did not want to read 
the papers, and when in my letters I read the same 
words, I did not want to finish them, lest those weary, 
bitter thous^hts should return a2:ain. 

I do not want to talk strongly, nor must you say 
I am romantic or fanatical. Both these traits soon 
pass away amid the reality of such a life as ours. 
Romance may last a month, fanaticism a week, but 
no longer. But there grows in one's heart a feeling 
stronger than either, like that which made Paul say, 
" Neither count I my life dear unto me." 

But I do not write a sermon or a lecture, I only 
want to tell you and to ask you. You say, " ask 
what ?" 

That evening I went into the school-room where 
some young men were taking out their books. As I 
spoke to them, they said, " Did you hear from Amer- 
ica, to day ? — did you have good news ? Are there 
missionaries coming here and going to other poor 
people in darkness ?" Then my heart cried out 
again, and seemed to say, " Why do they ask that 
question to-day, of all days ?" But I did not speak 
this, I only said " no." They asked me why, but I 
passed on as if I did not hear, for what coiddl answer ? 

Tell me this, and ask your friends what to say to 
plead their reason to this people. 

I passed them and began setting copies in some 
writing books. Two or three seemed so astonished 
they dropped into silence and looked at each other ; 
but two, one a young man just from heathenism, and 
the other, one who for some time had been a Chris- 
tian, did not rest thus. One spoke to the other, but 



70 CHRISTIAN WORK 

the words went into my heart and into my head, and 
as if printed on paper they are not to be forgotten. 

'' I sometimes think," said he, " when I look around, 
that God must have made heaven for white people, 
or perhaps I cannot say that, for he is our Father I 
know, but if he made heaven for all, the white peo- 
ple wish themselves only to go there, and if I were 
learned and wise, and not a poor ignorant black per- 
son, it would seem to me that our forefathers in 
God's mercy would be saved. The ones whom God 
would punish would be those who had light but 
never gave it. My father died ; he did not know 
God ; how loas he to know ? how could he believe if no 
one was sent ? and yet over the ocean, they say for 
hundreds of years they have known of God, and have 
been at their death going to him in heaven. If they 
knew these things, why were our forefathers left to 
die in darkness ? Oh no, no, I do not say it with a 
wicked heart, but it surely is not they who are to be 
cast aside for what they did not know, while others 
who knew, and kept the light from them are to enjoy 
heaven eternally." 

The other answered, " These thoughts, such as you 
speak, come into my heart very often. I do see that 
if we hear and do not love God, it is just and well 
that we be punished. But all in the lands over the 
ocean know of God, and perhaps all may be saved at 
their death, if they repent. Those in this land who 
have not heard, how can they repent unless they 
hear? and how can they hear unless more are sent 
to tell them ? I hear America is full of Christians, 
and I wonder often why they do not come here, and 



IN ZULU LAND. 71 

I cannot find any reason in my heart, unless it be 
that they choose to keep heaven for themselves and 
do not wish us to go there. It must be so. 

" They say they pray for us. So I could pray for 
my father, but if I did not go to him and tell him, 
I should be like a man with a wagon full of food, 
saying to a hungry man, ' I hope you will find food 
somewhere,' and refusing to give him a morsel. No, 
no, it must be they do not want us to go to heaven, 
for if they wanted us to go, they would surely come 
and tell us. The white man's heart is a strange 
heart, and if they are Christians, I wonder what they 
say to themselves to quiet their consciences, when 
they know how our people are dying in darkness." 

This is the conversation, and when it ended they 
came and asked me why people in America were un- 
willing to have the heathen go to heaven. I said, 
" They are not unwilling." " Why, then," they 
asked, " did our fathers die in darkness ? Why are 
so many dying now in darkness ? What are their 
prayers and money ? Why don't they come them- 
selves? If our black people saw a man who was 
going to be drowned in a river, we would go our- 
selves and tell him his danger. We would not kneel 
down and pray for him, we would not pull out pay 
and say, ' if somebody can be found to go, we will 
give him this.' What kind of hearts have they, those 
Christians in America ?" 

I told them I could not answer them, for I was 
unable to do so, but I write now to you, and as you 
see others, please ask them to tell me what to say the 
next time I am asked such questions. I am not writ- 



72 CHRISTIAN WORK 

ing a newspaper article, I am in earnest, and I want 
some one to answer the many such questions, for as 
God is my witness, I do not know what to answer. 
I am speechless." •. 

APPEAL TO STUDENTS. 

June, 1867. 

My dear Fkiend, — Far off in this out-of-the-way 
part of the world I have been reading in a paper 
from home the appeal for more missionaries, and if 
I could be two persons instead of one, I should send 
one-half, or, perhaps, I should say, go one-half^ with 
the greatest possible speed to America. I believe if 
I could see some of those young people who are so 
in need of rousing up, and so little inclined to be 
roused, I could speak words to them which would 
move them. As it is, I cannot go, for even the half 
of me would count now, our number is so small. 

Therefore I take a pen ; poor, miserable substitute, 
especially w^hen it is used to write words which come 
from a head and body quite tired out. The heart, I 
am happy to say, is warm; but alas, for us poor 
mortals ! The body affects the head or mind, and I 
cannot find a time when I am really rested so as to 
write with the might and earnestness I desire. 

But what I can say I will say to you, and through 
you to the others. I can just see them now ! 

My dear friends, I know how your time is all filled 
up ; that you have your studies, your Sabbath-schools, 
your prayer meetings and missionary meetings. And 
when the subject of missions is spoken of, every one, 



AY ZULU LAND. 73 

perhaps, or it may be only a part of you, look into 
your hearts, and either you see a particular reason 
why you cannot go, or else you are waiting for an 
*' inw\ard call." 

I can give you an outward call, and I would to 
God I had the power to give you an inward call as 
well. I do not believe in the word ; I believe it is 
made to be a sort of excuse by those who can find 
no other. If people have fathers or mothers, farms 
or merchandise to plead as a reason, it answers their 
purpose, and those who have not these have found 
an expression, now become a common phrase, " an 
inward call." 

No, we do not wait for an inward call for any- 
thing we like to do ! I need say no more of this ; 
but I fear me much it will be a poor excuse in the 
presence of God at last. 

I wish we had a new w^ord for " missionaries " and 
"missions," something that would attract people's 
attention, something w^hich they had not talked of 
and harped upon in a humdrum way for years. 

Missionary does not mean sickness nor death, as 
some suppose, nor does it mean starvation and 
bodily suffering, as others think. It does not mean 
angels, for they are just mortal beings, very mortal 
some of them, although I believe some people in 
America think missionaries must be angels ! It does 
not mean, to grown people, give every penny you 
can spare ; and to children, go without your cake 
and your new hat and give your money. People 
mix in all these with the word missionary^ and there- 
fore I w^ant a new word. 
4 



74 CHlilSTIAN WORK 

If I say we want a missionary, I do not mean a 
person to die or to fall ill, or to suffer from hunger 
or heat or cold. I do not mean we w^ant an angel 
or a perfect man, nor Avould we rob any of the 
things they do not want to give up. We w^ant some 
men ; true, living men ; good, pleasant, cheerful men ; 
full of fun, if you please, it will help them, this same 
fun ! We want men ; if they know a good deal, so 
far well ; if they can sing, so much the better ; if 
they are refined, well educated, yes, learned, it will 
all come in use and be so much the better. 

There, I have told you what we want ; now as to 
the reason w^hy. 

Not a Aveek passes but I see people, or hear of 
them, asking, calling, begging for some one to teach 
them. It is very easy to moralize on the other 
side of the ocean and consider pros and cons; but 
it is hard, fearfully hard, to see a man begging for 
teaching which may save his soul, begging for it for 
himself and his people ; it is hard to say, No ; as it 
were to say, " Go and die all of you, there is no 
mansion in heaven for you, or, at least, no one who 
is willing to tell you the way there." They think 
white people are selfish, and I think it is true ! We 
must be a selfish race or surely so many thousands 
would not call and be refused. 

Last week J heard of two African chiefs — this 
very moment I know of six African chiefs, some im- 
portant chiefs, some less so, who wish their people 
to be taught and cannot find any one willing to teach 
them. 

I do not stop to argue the question of " enough 



IJSr ZULU LAND. 75 

to do at home." To be sure there is, who ever dis- 
puted that ? But there are enough for home and 
also for us. Besides, you know how may congrega- 
tions are composed of a few people who have heard 
of Christ from their infancy ; do they call you more 
loudly than the thousands around these chiefs who 
know no way to heaven, no Saviour ? 

I am not a person of " one idea ;" missionaries are 
supposed to be so, but many are not, and I am not 
for one. I know all about America, from its 
wealthiest churches in cities down to the city's 
lowest dens of misery. I know the pretty country 
\dllages and their Sabbaths. I have seen the West- 
ern country and its needs, and the slaves and 
heathenism of the South. I knew all these well*^ I 
pray for them when I pray. You cannot say I am 
a person of one idea. I have taught in all these 
places, and have, with the help of the Father who is 
over all, left in them those whom I led to a Saviour; 
but I never for a moment regretted leaving them, 
never. 

My letter is growing too long, but I want to tell 
you a story and then I will stop. When I was 
traveling a short time ago, I met a native man, and 
seeing he was a Christian, I inquired his history. 
It seemed he was a great man, and had in his home 
great riches and much power. He heard the preach- 
ing of some one, I have forgotten whom, and became 
a Christian. After he learned to read his Bible he 
said he saw the words, " Son of man I have set thee 
a watchman. If I say unto the wicked. Thou shalt 
surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor 



7G CHRISTIAN WORK, 

speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way 
to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in 
his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy 
hand." 

This made him see that he could not settle down 
quietly and leave his people untaught. His friends 
surrounded him, urged, begged and even tried to 
force him to remain at home. lie said '• No " to all, 
and went his way. He forfeited his power, his 
wealth, his joys and home, and taking his Bible be 
went forth. When asked if he carried no gun, he 
said " Yes, and it has two barrels. My gun is my 
Bible, with the Old and New Testaments." 

You may smile at his sacrifice and say it is nothing 
compared to what one gives up who leaves America. 
Say so, if you choose. In my mind he gave up 
more than any of us did or could. He went far and 
wide, and hundreds believed through his teachings ; 
and he is traveling still and teaching still, eating 
such food as is given him, and forgetting all things 
in his love for God and his fellow-men. 

Are you and your friends behind this poor, igno- 
rant African ? Cannot the text that gave him such 
zeal stir you up ? or must it be that he and such as 
he are to shine in the kingdom of heaven, while 
Christians from the land of light, America, if they 
enter heaven at all, will be saved so as by fire, and 
be tried by the God who has said, " If ye speak 

NOT TO WARX THE WICKED, AND HE DIE IN HIS 
SINS, HIS BLOOD WILL I REQUIRE AT YOUR HAND." 



so MUCH TO DO AT HOME. 



The writer of these lines lays no claim to poetic talent. 
They are but the strong cry of one who writes from a full 
heart. 



so MUCH TO DO AT HOME. 

In the burning heat of an African sun, 

One sultry summer day, 
I wearily walked at the hour of noon, 
Almost wishing my work were done. 
Till I thought of the love of God's owm Son 

When He left His Heavenly Home. 

The sun was hot — but what mattered that ? 

There was work w^hich must be done ; 
There were dying men to be visited. 
And those who were mourning their baricd dead, 
Others Avhose hearts I could make glad 

If I told of a Heavenly Home. 

The sun was hot — but what mattered that ? 

Souls w^ere waiting for words of life. 
Those who were longing to learn of Heaven, 
Those for w^hom Jesus His life had given. 
I forgot all else. I had not even 

The time to think of Home. 

Time — when in the early morning light 

The entreaty rang, " O come, 
Teach us of Christ," — and late at night 
The old, the young, were in my sight. 
Multitudes asking for Gospel light ; 

Was there time to think of Home ? 

(3) 



That clay passed by like every day, 

With its heat and weariness. 
Oh, we know how to ask for strength by the way ! 
Strength from the Lord but for one day — 
" Give us strength, O Lord we pray, 

Until Thou slialt take us Home." 

On that day, from a region wild and lone, 

An African chief had come ; 
There the word of life had never gone, 
And he prayed that we would send him one 
To tell them of Christ, but there was none 

To go to that heathen home. 

My frame was weary, and deep my sleep 

When the hour of rest came on ; 
I slept, but I only slept to weej), 
To suffer anguish great and deep. 
Like those who their w^atch with the dying keep ; 

And, sleeping, I dreamed of Home. 

I dreamed that I stood on a distant hill. 

And hundreds were thronging around, 
Calling for teachers, calling until 
They besought with tears, and urging still, 
Both chiefs and people. They said, " You will 
Go for us to your distant Home. 

" In your happy country joy and light 

To all the people come : 
They know no darkness of heathen night; 



Many might come to bring us light, 
Many to teach us of good and right." 
And, dreaming, I hastened Home. 

The pain and weariness passed away, 

When I reached a Christian land ; 
I could not rest, I could not stay, 
I cared not how far my journey lay ; 
I must find help, and, without delay 

Go back to my African home. 

I stood in a temple large and wide, 

Filled with the wise and good ; 
I told of our country beyond the tide, 
Told of the heathen on every side. 
How they gathered to us from far and wide ; 

I told of this at Home — • 

In that Christian land, and to Christian men 

Who professed to love the Lord 
Who died for them ! — even God's dear Son — 
Yet not only for them, but for heathem men ; 
Their answer was, "It is true, but then 

There's enough to do at Home !" 

Next I stood, where assembled only were 

God's ministers, great and wise ; 
I told of these voices that called from afar. 
Of our strength worn out in our daily care. 
And entreated, "Oh, come to our help — come 

there !" 
But they answered calmly, without a tear, 

*' There's enough to do at Home." 



6 

Sharp agony tlien convulsed my frame 

As I thought of going alone 
To tell the heathen, for whom I came, 
They must die, not knowing of Jesus' name, 
For Christians could not see ^heir claim. 

With " so much to do at Home !" 

Then I passed through that country near and far, 

Its cities, and villages green ; 
I appealed to strong men, to maidens fair, 
To the young, to the old with whitened hair — 
" O send !" " O comeT' But all said, " Not there ; 

There's enough to do at Home." 

" We give our money, and some there are 

Who perchance might go away ; 
But what are you doing ? How came you here ? 
There is work in our land both far and near; 
'Tis not that Ave care not, not that we fear, 

But — there's so much to do at Home." 

Deep sorrow then my soul o'erthrew 

As I waked from that awful dream — 
Waked, O so sadly — for well I knew 
That though but a dream, alas ! 'tis true, 
That none will come ; all say, not the few, 
" There's enough to do at Home." 

O say, can you wonder, in that far land, 

At the Avords of those heathen men 
With Avhich my heart is daily pained ? 



At the stigma with which your names are stained ? 
They say your arc " selfish," and can they be 
blamed, 
Though '' there's much to do at Home ?'* 

They say, " In the home beyond the sea 

The hearts must be hard and cold. 
For they give us no light ; how else can it be ? 
They enter Heaven — but, oh ! not we 
Who are here ! We never that land shall see ; 

Only Ihei/ have a Heavenly Home." 

Thus they long for the truth and beg for light 

In that heathen land who roam ; 
They have heard, mayhap, of a Heaven bright, 
But say you have closed the door so tight 
You have doomed them to darkness and endless 
night. 

Because of the luorJc at Home, 

And, oh ! when they in God's presence stand 

With you, at that great day, 
When every nation of every land 

To judgment is called aw^ay. 
Say, say, can you stand in God's presence then, 

And remember that cry, " O come. 
We are dying — we know no Saviour's name !" 
Can you plead the excuse, will it not be vain ? 
Will it weigh with God, though it did with men? 

" There'* s enough to do at HomeP 



y 






'<^> 



V 



V ^ ^ •-'. 







^<'. 








^ 


P^-v 




f>* 


■^o , 




« ^ %^ 




"^o 


/■ 




0^- 



■^•^^ -^^ 



o *• o ^ «<^ 



.0 v^. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct.^2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 

(7?4) 779-21 1 1 



